The Transformers: Universe
by Sithicus
Summary: The Universe conflict a war concocted by Primus and Unicron to prolong the existence of their multiple reality counterparts is in truth nothing more then a farce in certain respects, Autobots and Decepticons collected from various Alternate Realties and b
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** The Transformers and all related characters belong exclusively to Hasbro; the Omniversal Guardian Roma belongs to Marvel Comics, I make no claims to owning any of them whatsoever... Instead I have borrowed them all to create a story based off of the limited run toyline titled Transformers Universe, a series that piqued my creativity from the first and had limited creative stories centered around it; the extent of which belongs to the Botcon Convention Creators... My version is completely different from theirs as well as the story blurb mentioned on the back of the packaging; I hope you'll enjoy it.

The first six stories are written from the perspective of the first three Decepticons and first three Autobots that will become involved in the Universe conflict; each story shares similar scenes only from differing perspectives, as such you'll probably notice a lot of shared dialogue between them as I begin posting them. This series is also written in first person perspective because that's just how it came out; future stories will be told from the perspective of either an Autobot or a Decepticon and tell a specific story surrounding specific conflicts... I hope it will be a different look at the characters and franchise and will pique your curiosity... And now without further ado the first story.

**Side-Note: If you're reading my Chrysalis story, which deals with a human by the name of Alain Desrochers and his trek into the Omniverse; well you'll notice certain scenes that relate to it in a way... If not; no big, you don't have to read the other story to enjoy this one, it's nothing more then an expansion of sorts that I tied to Chrysalis because I liken that large series of Novellas to my masterpiece and I like keeping fanfic canonicity so to speak.**

* * *

The vast multitude of varying realities exist within an infinite amount of numbers, spaces and varying degrees of intellectual denizens; the entire Omniverse as it is sometimes called is governed over by the Omniversal Guardian known as Roma who took over this lofty position from her father Merlyn.  
Those of Universes occupied by characters represented by the Marvel Comics company in a rather large number of alternate realities are the ones most commonly approached by Roma for missions to assist in keeping the balance of the Omniverse in check… All realities must contain a healthy mixture of good and evil, yin and yang, light and dark. On occasion there are instances where the Omniversal guardian must interact with those of the competitors' comic book companies; the most prominent being DC, however there are also universes where super heroes exist dealing with other fictional creators such as Image, Cross-Gen, Devil's Due, Dreamwave… A company defunct on Earth Prime due to bankruptcy, poor management and a rather inevitable downfall orchestrated perhaps by fate or a cruel intermediary from one of those multitude of alternate universes who enjoy meddling as it were.

Each reality is given a numbered designation based on the most prominent planetary body; there are countless zillions possibly more of universes with the designation Earth, Cybertron, Mobius, Mars, Eternia, Vulcan, Coruscant, Gaea, Etc… However for the purposes of this story only two planets need to be known about; that of Earth and Cybertron, for almost every Cybertron there is an Earth, thus you get such dual designations as Earth four thousand and fifteen and Cybertron four thousand and fifteen; some alternate realities after all wind up with more then simply one prominent planet where movers and shakers or notable characters live out their lives.

In the case of Cybertron there is a certain conflicting account of its' origin; some believe the Quintessons played a part in its' birth, others the Great God Primus, guardian of Light and the antithesis to the dark God of Chaos, Unicron, Devourer of Worlds. An infinite number of Primus' and Unicrons' exist; therein lies the problem, for countless eons these two Gods have fought one another throughout countless realties and involving any number of counterparts. Their constant confrontations however have resulted in a great imbalance to slowly begin creeping upon the Omniverse itself; an imbalance that could ultimately destroy all of creation including the twin Gods, thus Roma has approached representatives from one reality and expressed what some would call an ultimatum, settle upon one of each to represent their selves for the entire Omniverse thus eliminating the rest of their counterparts from existence… Or be wiped out entirely to preserve existence itself; thus our story begins within the nexus known as The Void…

* * *

Dark Nova was one of the many names Unicron used as an alias throughout the Omniverse; currently the entire number of Unicrons' were holding a meeting to decide on what course of action to best undertake, only a select few were involved in actually discussing their recourse, the rest watched on in silence until the voting was to take place.

"The Omniversal Guardian is the only being I would ever consider higher then myself." Violenijer stated; another representative and moniker of the Chaos Bringer.

"That is true; however we are not here to discuss her, in a sense… We must choose which of us will be the only Unicron left in existence, a Unicron Prime if you will." Sideways remarked; the purple, yellow and grey Decepticon was an avatar of sorts representing another aspect of the multitude of Chaos Bringers.

"There is only one of us who can assume such responsibilities." Unicron Nine Hundred and Twenty-Nine remarked; he originated from the Universe Earth Nine Hundred and Twenty-Nine and was currently monitoring a certain individual who shall remain nameless until his slight part in this tale unfolds. "I should take on the role of Unicron Prime; I am the least tainted by those who possess the power to destroy me, the rest of you have come into contact with the Matrix bearer enough times that you might not survive the transition of receiving all of our combined memories and knowledge." He added.

"Unicron Nine Twenty-Nine speaks truth." Dark Nova admitted with a slight growl. "Primus' accursed taint is more then capable of causing fluctuations in this development… However; how should we go about performing this merger?" He wondered shrewdly; Unicron Three Thousand smiled slightly, here there were no secrets after all.

"I propose a contest of sorts." The Fallen spoke up. "Let us pit Autobot against Decepticon in a brutal struggle for supremacy of the entire cosmos; of course we simply won't tell them that supremacy means both Us and Primus." He added with a chuckle.

"An excellent idea; it would serve to prolong the existence of multiple Unicrons, long enough for some of our current plans to reach their ultimate conclusions." Sideways concurred with a nod as he crossed his arms over his chest manifold.

"But first; we must stipulate a few ground rules that Primus would have to conform to; it wouldn't be much of a sport if the army was just thrown together all at once after all." Violenijer noted with a sly smile; Dark Nova nodded in agreement.

"Yes; there shall be no Megatron or Galvatron to lead the Decepticons, I do not trust one of their ilk to perform to our specifications." He began; Unicron Five Hundred plucked a data collecting device from the nether and began to input this information.

"Agreed." Violenijer stated. "Matrix Bearers should not be allowed either, at least in the beginning; save for our own Dark Matrix bearers." He continued with a knowing gleam in his optic.

"Primus must begin by culling dead heroes from the Matrix while we must start with living individuals; merely to ah, spice things up I think." The Fallen chimed in with a dark cackle of his own; Unicron Five Hundred noted this.

"No humans." Unicron Nine Hundred Twenty-Nine stated emphatically. "They are far too unpredictable to be allowed in this contest of wills, so to speak, and besides I do not wish for his current herald to become involved." He elaborated with a glower; The Fallen nodded alongside many others in the background and accepted this without question.

"Are there any other rules we should stipulate before going to Primus?" Sideways questioned; a silence fell over the others as they thought carefully over this query, finally a tiny fragment of Unicron from a distant reality known as Primacron spoke up.

"There can be no interference on either of our parts; all we should be allowed to do is introduce the new players and, ah… How shall I put this; enjoy the entertainment." He stated; a chorus of dark laughter rang out from the collected Unicrons' and the final rule was noted.

"If there is no further business." Dark Nova began only to be stopped by Violenijer.

"Just one more thing; where will this competition take place?" He wondered; the others grew silent as that conundrum presented itself, the chosen battlefield would have to be one that was no longer habited by its' own Cybertronians who would undoubtedly meddle with the events.

"Cybertron One Thousand Three Hundred is currently devoid of all life; save a few who are either in stasis awaiting a day for reactivation or currently suffering from prolonged exposure to vacuum." The Fallen informed; the others nodded in acceptance.

"We have all reached agreement then; Sideways take our decisions to Primus and Roma, Unicron Nine Hundred Twenty-Nine." Violenijer began. "Seeing as how you shall become Unicron Prime once this confrontation has ended; I suggest that you be the one to monitor it and cull the Omniverse for our soldiers." He finished with a hard gleam in his optic; The Unicron in question nodded understandably and began to consider what was to be done.

"As you wish my fellow counterparts, rest assured; this final glorious conflict shall be one for the history books, rife with chaotic devastation." He proclaimed; a few of his counterparts laughed darkly at this while others simply faded away, until only three remained.

"There is something I have just started on planet Earth of my reality; it shall not require your monitoring Nine Hundred Twenty-Nine." Unicron Fourteen Fifty informed.

"This should become a most pleasant distraction from our imminent merger, Roma will most likely see through the deception we have envisioned; however I do not think she will mind very much." Dark Nova stated; Unicron Nine Hundred Twenty-Nine accepted his wisdom with a nod and then proceeded to begin the preparations that would be needed, first he had to find the perfect leader who could be controlled. Until then however a suitable template would do just as well; and serve to cloud the issue further, so to speak.

* * *

Prologue

_The Transformers; More Than Meets the Eye…_

I twisted the dial of my brilliantly crafted temporal device and re-checked the calculations; all was going according to plan and soon I would prevent the destruction of my Empire, this time. All was going precisely as I had hoped when the alert klaxons began to roar; one of my minions attempted to contact me, I never bothered to address them by name. I was just about to respond when everything around me began to sway and change; it was as if the world was dieing and rebuilding itself all at the same time, and then total eclipse of nothingness.

_Autobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of… The Decepticons…_

I was swift in recovering my senses; **he** stood before me, the smaller avatar form of Unicron known by many assumed names. It was a manifestation of his robot mode crafted from the swirling masses of dark energies that comprised his very soul; only the true elite of his followers were ever gifted with bearing witness to this form. At once I lowered myself to one knee my wings sweeping out behind me, I lowered my optics in respect and servitude for I was nothing more then his follower; and would remain such forevermore.

"You may rise Razorclaw." He stated a smile indicated in his tone; I complied with his request and waited for the orders I knew to be imminent, it was the only thing one did in such a situation. "Greetings loyal warrior; you are my trusted follower, and therefore you have been chosen to aid me." He informed.

"How can a lowly one such as I aid the great and powerful Unicron, my Master?" I inquired knowing that to him perhaps I was laying it on a tad thick, but I really couldn't care less if he thought so little of me; as long as I could serve his task swiftly and return to my own mission. I needed to restore my Cybertron so I could have a place to rule; a seat of power if you will for my Empire.

"You have been chosen to lead my army against that of Primus; we have made a bargain to end our long standing feud." He replied moving as he spoke and placing a hand upon my shoulder; I was amazed that he would deem me appropriate to bestow such an honor upon me, I who was little more then a pawn in his optics.

"Of course my master; I shall not disappoint." I stated lowering my head briefly in a sign of acceptance.

"And now to locate your followers." Unicron stated turning to face a different corner of the room; this is when I took note of my surroundings and realized that we were within the brain chamber of the planet form of the great God itself, the video monitors were situated behind me. Unicron raised his hands and dark energies began to coalesce; I watched this in fascination for I had never seen such an act before, nor likely would again.  
"Arise my fallen heralds; your services are required." He called out; three shapeless forms began to appear much to my surprise, two of the forms appeared quickly creating strange looking units. One was a dark green, blue and orange and the other was black with goldish hued armor; the third proved larger he towered above the others though did not dwarf my own considerable bulk. His armor was a mixture of aquamarine and dark blue as well as beige coloring.

"These are to be my warriors?" I wondered skeptically; they hardly looked competent enough.

"No; they have already died in my service and are not eligible, only Primus may choose dead warriors at the onset of this contest." The liege Unicron informed as the three warriors maneuvered into supplicant poses; I wondered then what use they could possibly serve, Unicron smiled and turned to the short unit with the backwards legs and the transparent green wings.

"How may I serve you lord Unicron?" He asked; I was exceptionally curious to hear the answer to that question myself, but I patiently awaited his words. He turned partially to the screens as images began to play over them; they were of a planet I failed to recognize, disgusting organic creatures moved about their mundane lives.I had nothing against organics; they made great templates for beast modes and actually tasted pretty good, but a planet full of organics seemed to be overkill.

"Scourge, you will be sent to this point in time in this particular reality." Unicron explained; Scourge nodded as images of Transformers began to play over the central screen. "These units are your target; you have been gifted with the ability to enhance those who are inferior, the one who can defeat you shall be the one chosen." He explained; the image then froze on another Transformer a frilled lizard that was eating the carcass of a dead beast.  
"This one shows promise." Unicron stated with a knowing voice that Scourge appeared to miss; he nodded in understanding and a swirling purple vortex appeared beside him.

"I shall not fail you my liege; General Razorclaw." Scourge stated addressing the both of us before vanishing into the vortex; Unicron smiled and now turned to the larger of the remaining warriors. Images of Cybertron now graced the viewers and the unit in question took them in with complete seriousness.

"Shokaract; past bearer of the Decepticon Matrix of Conquest, you have an identical task to that of your companion Scourge." Unicron revealed; I rolled my optics at the use of his full title, which came off as a tad too theatrical in my book, Shokaract grinned lustily as an image of a female Maximal appeared on screen… _How did I know the name of that faction?_

"Oh; I like her." He remarked with a low growl; how disgusting, how could some of these Cybertronians experience those loquacious emotional desires?

"Just get going!" Unicron snapped as another vortex shimmered to life; Shokaract gave a quick bow and leapt through.

"So what task am I to perform?" The final unit wondered; Unicron turned to him and I rolled my optics at the obvious response, this one would most likely be another go forth and get killed arrangement.

"You Ravage, shall have a grander task to complete; first I shall send you to procure other warriors, as well as deal with a particular thorn in my side." Unicron replied startling me; perhaps I had jumped to conclusions to rapidly. The final vortex opened now and Ravage leapt through; I turned to regard Unicron once more questions formulating within my circuits, he seemed to sense my inquisitive attitude.  
"Now we wait, but first; I shall explain everything." He stated beckoning me from the room and striding into the shadows of his physical body; I was quick to follow, this could take some time.

_The Transformers; Robots in Disguise… The Transformers; More Than Meets the Eye, The Transformers…_

Razorclaw

I sat in the dark of the obelisk silently observing their progress; Reptilion proved promising as far as Decepticons went, however I had a feeling his sister Black Arachnia could become a liability. Love was the strongest emotion a female could experience; and once they had a taste for it, they could never be truly counted upon for retaining their loyalties. And yet she had managed to defeat Shokaract; the one time bearer of the Matrix of Conquest, I decided long before the duo arrived on my doorstep to see just what exactly she'd do upon our imminent first encounter with the Autobots. They entered the main foyer of the Spire and I began to tap my fingers against the armrest in impatience; I was far more interested in engaging Primal then wasting time explaining frivolities to these, so called lieutenants.  
They arrived relatively quickly and for that I was eternally grateful; I waited briefly as they both took in the sights of our central command structure before revealing myself to them.

"Greetings Reptilion, Black Arachnia I see Unicron saw fit to bestow upon my personage two extraordinary units for my lieutenants." I stated as I slowly turned to examine them in person; their expressions amused me to say the least. "After all not many can claim to have bested two of the Chaos Bringers Heralds." I added with a knowing smile; that fact alone was why I had decided to openly accept them with such a generous nature, those who could defeat the heralds of Unicron were most certainly fit to be under my command.

"Tigerhawk?" Black Arachnia gasped in apparent shock; I growled low in my throat so that they wouldn't hear me and adopted as neutral an expression as I could muster.

"Negative Ms. Arachnia; I merely resemble that Maximal unit, I am Razorclaw the leader of this new Decepticon army." I returned with a carefully crafted smile; she seemed a tad put off by that, but it was really unimportant in the grand scheme of things. This war would be the war to end all wars; and so naturally it made sense that a true general be in soul command of everything.

"An army of three." Reptilion pointed out perhaps a tad more cockily then he had intended to.

"For the moment." I began rising to my full imposing height while clasping my hands behind my back and turning to examine the numerous monitors at my beck and call; more to hide the angry expression I now let play across my features, how dare Unicron and Primus allow our armies to begin with such paltry sums… How could either God expect one to win under such restrictive limitations? "But Unicron has assured me that more Decepticons shall join us as time and situations permit; we shall become the conquerors of the entire Multiverse." I added after composing myself; I listened to their brief conversation, if it could be called that, in silence. I was more interested in getting on with this foolishness; and then of course the alarms began to blare, the Autobots were precisely on time.  
"Ah the Autobots have arrived; shall we go to meet our chosen adversaries." I suggested assuming beast mode and circling above them briefly before glancing down with a dark smile; I let my tongue play out in anticipation of the fun this would entail and also to unnerve the both of them. "Decepticons follow me to Victory!" I exclaimed allowing the echoing nature of the room to expand upon my ego slightly and also instill a hint of further terror and unease amongst my new troops, they would not soon forget this; of that I was quite certain.

* * *

My warriors leapt from my back as I continued to hover above the chosen battlefield within Iacon city; Primal stood opposite me eyeing my imposing form with slight anger on his features, I grinned openly and swept my wings back tossing a violent breeze his way ruffling his fur.

"Ah Optimus Primal." I stated in an almost perceptively cheery tone; no reason to allow my true persona free reign in this instant, besides I was looking forward to the coming confrontation.

"Razorclaw." He returned with a curt nod; ever the polite fool, Primus had chosen an obvious weakling to lead his forces and I could not wait to end this war. How unfortunate that death was absent from Cybertron until such time as we achieved a more… Shall we say expanded army?

"What was it your old adversary once said?" I wondered tilting my head to one side in a show of thought; naturally I already knew everything about my enemy, at least everything Unicron felt was pertinent. "Ah yes." I exclaimed plucking the phrase from my inner memory banks. "You will forgive any paraphrasing of course… Across the Multiverse it has all boiled down to this; tooth to tooth, claw to claw… Yesssss." I finished relishing the look Primal shot me after my quotation was concluded; a voice cut through the silence, Black Arachnia had finally come to the realization who stood before us, or at least who she perceived him to be I hardly paid it much mind at first, but now was not the time for her to rekindle old love affairs.  
"Enough of this benign waste of time." I snapped landing in between both soldiers glaring briefly at the widow. "Let the very battle for the ultimate prize commence this day, Decepticons Transform and Attack!" I cried out.

"Autobots! Take them down." Primal countered; converting from beast mode instantly I charged the now airborne Primal, this would not only prove most enlightening, but it would offer quite the amusement. My wing tips swept forward and unleashed twin missiles that collided with Primal's own initial volley; the detonation was swift and calculated, I dove through the broiling inferno and fired my gatling guns upon the much smaller unit. Primal however was not in my direct line of fire anymore and the shots went wide; with a curse I dodged more missile fire and raised my right hand, this contest was uneven to say the least. I possessed the superior firepower; and compared to the Autobot leaders of old, I dwarfed Primal considerably even in the air. The plasma bursts from the weapon attached to my right hand streaked across Primal's back searing fake fur; yet he wasn't effectively injured, unhooking my rocket launchers I tried to blow out his jump jets, but he proved quicker then I would have given him credit for.  
I could have gone all out; considering I was already using every weapon at my disposal, but where was the fun in unleashing my weather controlling powers upon the puny Autobot? So much more rewarding to eliminate him with my bare hands; even though eliminating him at this junction was ultimately impossible, removing one of my wing tip missiles I triggered the elongation. It expanded into a long shafted spear and I twirled it around single handedly in anticipation of hand to hand combat; Primal detached his swords and brandished them, there was no need for words in this clash of titans. I would definitely enjoy this; we charged through the air swiftly and collided, the spear shaft shuddered at the connection of his blades. I grinned wickedly and spun the weapon jabbing at his chest only to be turned aside; I slashed diagonally downwards, but his sword edge caught the edge of the spear and turned it just enough to slightly unbalance me.  
I bashed the butt into his shoulder followed with a surprise blast from my rocket launcher sending his swords falling to the ground, no sense fighting fairly after all; I wasn't his former colleague Dinobot and had no use for honor. The left panel on his wrist popped open and twin missiles impacted the hand clutching my launcher blowing it to pieces and scattering the remains to the pavement below; they also happened to shred the transparent red windshield on my right arm, a remnant of my former vehicle form, my reformat into this bestial form had not been exact. I growled in pain even as the right panel flew open; the missile launcher inside slid behind a panel revealing an odd mace weapon, which flew out via compression launcher and landed hilt first in his left hand, the weapon in question was shaped oddly like a skull. He began to spin it with practiced ease; the weapon had not been part of his original armaments, at least not according to the information supplied by Unicron. Perhaps Optimus Primal or Primus was taking a page from ancient history, Optimus Prime and Megatron had battled with energon weapons long ago; true this wasn't composed of Energon, but it was similar.  
The skull shaped head of the mace collided with my chest and succeeded in cracking it revealing the Decepticon symbol hidden beneath; I grimaced in pain and clutched the wound briefly before I jammed the spear into his own chest. He pulled off the blade and came at me again; this time I caught the mace, wrapping the chain around my spears' shaft. This proved foolish on my part and I would be the first to admit it; Primal yanked back hard and sent my spear sailing away, then he bashed me in the chest again before strangely enough stowing his mace.

"Hand to hand; how quaint." I mocked diving in hard and fast; I connected with his jaw, or more accurately his whole head and shot his spinning form a smug smirk, only to be bashed upside the head for my over confident failing. He was fast for a flyer with no wings and of course a unit his size; swinging out again I connected with his next punch my larger fist shattering linkages in his arm and shoulder under the impact. While we clashed I prepared my remaining rocket launcher for another sneak attack; his eyes widened briefly as though he was hearing something or someone before briefly shooting me with a frustrated look; then he began to return to the ground.

"Autobots' fall back!" He ordered; I noted the reactions of his troops and mine from my vantage point judging how they felt towards the sudden cessation of hostilities, how disappointing though he hadn't decided to stay very long after all. Reverting to beast mode I too returned to the ground joining my troops; who were in the middle of good natured sibling jibbing, how disgusting.

"They shall think twice before returning to Iacon for another confrontation I think." I noted as I began to prune my feathers slightly; Reptilion eyed me curiously, but it was his sister that spoke first.

"The war has begun." She stated quite prophetically; this brought a smile to my lips as I contemplated the battlegrounds of Cybertron that the future held for us all.

"Not just a war sister." Reptilion countered his fear audible to my audios; though apparently his sisters' weren't as attuned as my own. "This is to be the ultimate clash and the possibilities are… Limitless." He finished.

"Indeed Reptilion, but we shall be ready for whatever pathetic personages Primus chooses for his side." I stated taking care not to reveal certain information that I alone was privy to.

"And whatever Unicron chooses for us." The she-spider added intriguing me with her boldness. "Decepticons; at least some of them can be notorious traitors after all." She elaborated; how amusing that the known traitor would let slip such an obvious and dangerous thought.

"Indeed fair widow." I intoned eyeing her with a knowing look; she turned her gaze to the horizon and the retreating Autobots, oh yes I would have to watch this one carefully; and such a shame too. It had been quite a few years since I'd enjoyed the simple pleasures a female companion could offer, if I wasn't mistaken the last had been a young nubile thing called Minerva. Ah well; so long as she kept in line no need to concern myself then, now if only Ravage was doing his job adequately enough I had a feeling we'd be needing soldiers very soon.

* * *

The Transmetal Two panther landed on his feet among the bones of Megatron's warehouse on an alternate Cybertron; he brushed his fur off slightly with his tongue before glancing out at the desolation of his first stop. Here he was to locate the next two additions for the lord Unicrons' army; and if everything he'd been told was true, then he had the perfect candidates in mind. With a soft growl he took off vanishing into the shadows as he made his way towards the massive amalgamated throne sitting atop the tallest tower; time to do some recruiting.

* * *

Unicron's essence left the decayed body of the long dead counterpart he'd borrowed when recruiting the first of his army; now was the time to return to other plans, he could trust that Razorclaw would be doing his best on Cybertron One Thousand Three Hundred. Now however; he had to return to his own reality of Earth Nine Hundred and Twenty-Nine in order to ensure that the Tripredacus Council and Tarantulas weren't getting into any trouble, and also to continue his observations of the herald Primus had recently come in contact with.

"The battle has only just begun." He remarked to himself as he traversed the Omniversal pathways. "And soon; there will be only one." He added with a chuckle, for he knew that Roma's ultimatum meant that no matter what; for the rest of eternity there would always be Unicron and Primus…

The Beginning

**Ladies and Gentlemen; the Transformers Universe conflict has begun... Please let me know what you've thought of this wonderful story, it's taken me quite some time to return to it from the long hiatus I'd placed upon it, but now... Well I'm just happy to share what I have available to all.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:** No way to tell if anyone likes this; perhaps my description of the series in general could use a better word, ah well I'll have to think on it before I can explain any confusions that some of the silent readers might possess. Perhaps it's because there are some who are unfamiliar with the Transformers Universe Toyline; from which I've derived the characters for this series, check out w w w. bwtf. c o m (Without the spaces naturally)under the Universe section to get some info and see pictures of the toys.

I make no claims to owning any of these characters; at least not their names, their personalities are mostly fabricated from my own imaginations and thus I've managed to surprise myself with the level of creativity I've revealed. The second story follows the events of the first from the viewpoint of the Predacon turned Decepticon Reptilion... The first three stories will be written mostly from each of the Decepticons POVs for the most part and the subsequent three will be the flipside POVs' of the Autobots. Please Read & Review to let me know what everyone thinks...

* * *

"Black Arachnia! Wherever my spark goes I shall find you!" A voice cried echoing amongst the sheer emptiness of my mind. 

"And I you brother!" Her voice called out weak and faded as though a mere fragment of a memory. Memories fell away elusive as the very shadows as once again the red agony bombarded me; I slowly turned to face the monster planet. He had seen better days; the once fearsome chaos bringer was little more then a husk decayed and ancient as the very cosmos themselves. I despised him for how he took me from my sister just as I had reunited with her; this made him laugh a sound so twisted by darkness and age that it reminded me of the cackle of the deranged Alpha Duos.

"Still you dwell upon her my herald." He stated; I churned at his words, I would never be his herald no matter what he did to me. "So you believe Reptilion, but remember even now as I speak destiny and fate will take a different track. Proceed on your way… To conquest." His last words echoed among the very stars until a swirling purple vortex formed behind me as if called down by the echoing voice itself; I felt the great pull and I at once vanished from his sight, though never his touch…

Reptilion

Cybertron stood before me; a desolate wasteland I found myself before the entranceway to the once proud and mighty city of Iacon. The once beauteous golden archways stood listless; the top of the archway caved in upon itself and perched precariously above the long stretch of former bustling highways. A sick grayish black color represented the last remnants of the noble Autobot faction; I lowered my head in respect of the ancient ones for unlike those under the Tripredacus Council I held no ill will towards those who sired the twin races.  
Many believed we Predacons to have descended solely from the Decepticons; I however had long since discovered the truth before my posting to the Axalon and the events that led to my current position. Entering the hallowed realm I vowed internally to discover just why Unicron had sent me here; taking my first steps within Iacon I sensed a kinship with those of the past long since lost to the ravages of time. Optic sensor whirring with sound my vision switched; elongating past the lip of the collapsed Energon storage facility and locking onto a fluctuating spark signature, estimated thirty-five kilometers within the city limits.

"Beast Mode!" I cried expecting to revert to my frilled lizard form; nothing happened and I looked confusedly upon my form. Gone were my cool metallic blue and orange colors; replaced with a primary dark brown highlighted by bright green and metallic purple flaking.  
My spark chamber swung open as I studied these changes; the pulsating crystal-like soul had sunken in and a new covering, presumably enhanced armor of some sort, covered it. The familiar; though ancient sigil of the former Decepticon Empire graced my body resting prominently upon the armor covering, so this was Unicrons game. With a quick and simple mental command and the once symbolic sounds of gears; joints and pistons re-arranging themselves I assumed beast form. Verifying that the unknown hadn't moved I used my clawed feet to slip under the roadway; no sense leaping into the situation like a certain former comrade of mine. As I began to crawl along the underbelly of this great thoroughfare my mind slowly slipped back into itself and images of my past returned, centering upon the day all first began…

* * *

The rich foliage of the ancient world vibrated and hummed with the songs of the wild; droning cicadas and singing birds nested in the trees. A herd of elephants basked in the cool waters of a peaceful lake and a silent leopard stalked a herd of antelope in the tall grasses of the Savanna. Without warning a seven foot long frilled lizard struck from his hiding place and bit into the pelted hide of the leopard; he gorged on his meal, serrated teeth tore trough the flesh, bone, sinew and organs of the beast rapidly. Blood soon coated his fangs and he reveled in it all basking in the lazy heat of late afternoon as he settled down to conclude his feast.  
Suddenly the antelope fled; they had not seen or scented the beasts' kill, but the nine foot locust fluttering down from the sky proved to startle them into a run. Slitted reptilian eyes watched the insect for a moment longer before the organic beast swallowed the last of his meal and verbalized. 

"Reptilion Terrorize!" He cried instantly transforming into his smaller robot form; detaching his tail from it's' perch on his back he raised the revealed cannon at the giant locust and would have smirked if he could.

"Peace friend Reptilion." The transformer spoke shifting into his own robot mode; he proved to be taller and closer inspection revealed that his organic parts clashed with numerous mechanical influences.

"I know you not; nor do I call you friend." Reptilion stated though lowering his weapon in curiosity. "And yet I wish to know who you are and how it is you appear so differently." He wondered.

"My name is Scourge and I am a Transmetal Two." The unit responded; his voice made Reptilion wary, but the power resonating from him made the smaller Predacons' optics flicker with great desire. "I know what you most desire Reptilion; your hidden thoughts are laid bare and naked before me as primitive as the so called humans." He stated optics flaring with bemusement.

"What could you possibly know?" Reptilion scoffed flicking his cannon in a show of bored annoyance. "I grow tired of your word games, leave me to my life." He added whirling and heading off towards the nearby jungle.

"You seek reunification with your sibling." Scourge called out bringing Reptilion to a sudden halt. "I can take you to her." He added in a lower sly tone. Reptilion spun to face Scourge and glared at the larger Predacon hiding his true feelings of fear behind a mask of anger.

"You presume much dark one." He snapped raising his weapon once again. "Tell me why I shouldn't destroy you for your words."

"Because you know I speak truthfully, you can not deny your spark… However if you do not wish my aid." Scourge trailed off and turned once more taking into the sky; Reptilion eyed him briefly debating if he should accept the strangers offer.

"Wait!" He finally called out before Scourge could get further away. "I will listen to your proposal." He added lowering his head in disgust.

"There is no proposal." Scourge returned landing so quickly it belied the natural order of things. "Simply take my hand." He continued reaching out with his left hand; Reptilion hesitated briefly before re-holstering his weapon on his back and taking the clawed hand in his own relatively normal one. Scourges' optics flickered darkly as the four insect legs hanging on his lower arm lashed out with honed reflexes. Reptilions' optics widened in fear as they dug into his metallic skin and dark purple energy began to flow; he cried out in raw agony as his body trembled. The quadruple energy tendrils burrowed deep surrounding his very spark and he soon blacked out from the sheer torture.

* * *

Reptilion heard voices and his optics flickered back to life as he slowly sat up; something felt different, his left visionary input seemed sharper then his right. Glancing about in the large cavern his optics fell upon others; a hulking light green and blue behemoth stood farthest out. Sharp teeth revealed in his smile and a fin atop his head; his left arm actually ended in a four pronged claw. Straddling one of the stalagmites was a web footed mostly dark blue hunchbacked robot who was closely scrutinizing him in return, head tilted at a slight angle. Two short robots stood closer by; one a light grey and orange combination with wings on his back the other a darker grey and red with obvious feminine undertones.  
Sitting cross legged and oblivious to the rest was a scythe armed blue and black insect inspired mechanoid while a metallic green and dark brown ram paced back and forth before the entrance energy bars shimmering. A sudden hand appeared red in color and Reptilion allowed the stranger to help him to his feet; he was black and red with multifaceted optics, transparent blue wings and metallic silver on his beast modes' abdomen, which hung off his back. After helping him up he offered a goofy smile and turned to address the others. 

"Maybe now locus-bot let us all return to Cybertron." He stated.

"I'll believe that when I see it." The stalagmite clinger muttered in a low tone; obviously Reptilion had not been the first tricked by the locust. Remembering the odd tendrils of energy he glanced down at his superstructure to check for damages only to discover that he had undergone some form of reformat. His entire body was now a combination of dark blue and orange; not to mention that somehow it had been completely re-arranged, his transformation was altered drastically if the lizard-modes frill formerly resting on his back; now serving as a strange half-skirt around his waist was any indication. His tail had always been attached to his back for quick access to his blaster, but now it was thinner, and attached to his head helmet in such a fashion as to evoke a long flexible head of hair. Even his feet and hands were altered, being slightly wider and tapering off with far sharper claws.

"What did he do to me?" Reptilion exclaimed unaware that insect guru was carefully studying him.

"The same thing as most of us; well except Ramulus over there." The largest unit stated indicating the ram pacing near the cave entrance.

"Yes, locus-bot make us all Transmetal or Transmetal Two." The helpful winged unit with the odd speech elaborated.

"Pipe down Waspinator." Scythe unit snapped. "You're messing up my audios."

"Scarab-bot keep opinion to himself; lizard-bot want answers and Wazzzzzpinator has answers." Waspinator shot back; Reptilion was mildly surprised that Waspinator didn't have a far stranger speech quirk considering the way he kept referring to everyone by their beast modes; still at least he seemed to be the only sane one in this group at the moment.

"Reptilion." He corrected introducing himself to the group in general, he still did not know any of their names save two and he hoped his forwardness would net him new knowledge.

"Ah I see you have recovered; excellent." Scourge called out suddenly as he revealed himself among the group; the shark unit reacted first cocking a loaded missile launcher and aiming it in one fluid motion. Ramulus shifted into robot mode so swiftly Reptilion hadn't seen him coming, his ram-modes horns now rested in his hand forming an impressive cannon that crackled with red tipped energy. Scarab unit as Waspinator had called him leapt from his crouch-legged position and landed, revealing four legs not two. His arms were poised inches from Scourge's chest their scythe-like nature hinting at a messy and gruesome end for the betrayer. The others among them seemed indifferent; stalagmite clinger shifted and moved up further into the shadows for observation, winged female and winged male seemed to accept their fate their shoulders sagging in defeat. Reptilion ignored their strange reaction and turned now to face the one who'd gotten him in this mess.

"You had best be explainin' these actions Scourge." Ramulus growled the odd cannon in his grip flaring with even more power; his voice struck Reptilion as odd dialect-wise, but he ignored this new revelation and scrutinized the mysterious one eager to gauge his reaction.

"My actions are simple; I have the means to send one of you home, only one. Therefore instead of forcing myself to decide, which of you to take and which to leave to their death I chose a more colorful solution." Scourge began his tone indicating a hidden malice that appeared particularly bemused at the weapons facing him. "The rule is a simple one, the last unit standing gets to come home." He finished smugly before he vanished yet again; everyone continued to eye the place he'd been for a good five seconds longer before they began to shift sights on those around them.

"We won't do as he wishes will we?" The small winged male demanded fear coating his tone like well aged energon.

"Wazzzzzpinator thinks we should track locus-bot down and make him take all of us." Waspinator suggested.

"And I say stuff it bug-eyes." Scarab unit snapped before he charged at the winged male; his scythe-like arms came down in a death dealing blow only to connect with a large blade that had mysteriously appeared in his opponent's hand.

"Scarem; Nightglider stop this at once." The female unit ordered her optics narrowing in disgust.

"Hot tip Sonar you're not in charge." Stalagmite clinger spat with a smirk before he pounced on the bat inspired unit.

"Oh no; Wazzzzzpinator knows this is bad idea, Cybershark do something to stop the fighting." Waspinator pleaded addressing the largest member of this little clique of survivors; Cybershark smiled showing off both sets of teeth and switched his aim from empty air to Waspinator.

"Guess again bug-boy." He stated opening fire with a deranged glint in his optics; Waspinator dodged the missiles and let out a cry of dismay.

"Transmetal Two Maximal is insane! Wazzzzzpinator sick of pointless wars and fighting, Wazzzzzpinator Flight Mode!" He cried instantly adopting his wasp form, which quickly rearranged several panels revealing an F-15 style nosecone and wing assembly where wasps' wings had been before. Jet engines flaring the strange unit barreled into the wall of the cavern bypassing the secure entranceway entirely and rocketing off into a cloud filled sky.

"Two can play at that!" Cybershark began stowing his launcher back wherever he'd spirited it from; before he could pursue Waspinator, Scarem leapt in front of him his arms dripping with the life-fluids of Nightglider a psychotic glee in his optics. Reptilion glanced over at Nightglider and lowered his head in silent respect; the Maximal had put up a valiant effort after all.  
"A pity you killed the rodent; I'm rather fond of fury prey, but in a pinch I can settle for Insect Tartar." Cybershark stated before the two began to fight; Reptilion grimaced how could a Maximal be so disturbed?

"And so laddie it's left to us two to choose; should we fight each other or follow Waspinator?" Ramulus wondered causing Reptilion to turn to the forgotten unit in surprise; his optics widened as he saw the sheer determination in the other units optics though a hint of torn despair could be detected as well. Raising his special cannon Ramulus chose to follow the set course; Reptilion leapt away as a swath of pure energy tore across the ground gouging into it and tearing up a hail of dust and tiny rocks. Reptilion marveled at the sheer destructive power of that weapon; reaching for his tail blaster he made a very big discovery.

"Slag; looks like that reformatting omitted long-range weapons as part of it's' package deal." He muttered rolling out of the way of a second blast that ripped apart a good chunk of cave floor, several stalagmites and a large boulder conveniently placed in between Ramulus and Reptilion. A third shot was quick to follow and Reptilion was hard pressed to dodge the energy wave due to Ramulus sweeping his cannon across their makeshift battlefield in order to ensure hitting his target this time. His spark chamber opened as he moved weaving and jerking in a haphazard flight path in hopes of evading the blast; twin stalks of orange energy coalesced snaking out to each hand and solidifying into identical battle clubs. Grinning slightly and now armed Reptilion backpedaled flipping up over the energy beam and bounding off of a broken chunk of stalagmite; he flipped through the air tucking his legs into a somersault as he barreled closer and closer to Ramulus. Finally he landed to the left of his attacker right beside the hand clutching that devastating cannon; using one club he batted it aside as Ramulus pivoted to meet him and jammed the second in between the linkage and the small arm blades on Ramulus' wrist. His eyes widened in surprise as the cannon began to crackle and whine with overloading energies.  
"It didn't have to be this way." Reptilion whispered taking a moment to genuinely apologize to his opponent.

"Survival is the only way; and I gladly sacrifice myself fer the others." Ramulus returned; Reptilion suddenly understood why Ramulus had been so conflicted prior to instigating his attack; he watched with respect as Ramulus charged across the cavern and continued to pour energy into his weapon. Now Reptilion could see that his own spark energies provided the power source; with a great cry intermixed with righteous fury and deep sorrow his lips twisted into a smile of contempt as the cannon at last incapable of supporting the volume of sheer energy particles infused within the barrel detonated. The explosion engulfed the cave entrance with intense radiance; Reptilion shielded his optics only to find himself thrown slamming into an ancient sturdier stalagmite by the backwash. Ramulus himself was eaten away; his body ripped itself apart and his spark imploded.  
Once the debris and dust settled down Reptilion saw the light; the entranceway had been blasted open revealing a murky colored sky with occasional flashes of lightning and a desolate wasteland as far and wide as any he'd ever encountered. Preparing to head out after Waspinator; Reptilion felt something slam into his chest and he glanced down to find the half-eaten form of Scarem, quadruple legs still twitching. Cybersharks' shadow fell upon him and he looked up in true fear noting that he was still chewing on one of Scarems' arms.

"Chitin was too chewy." He remarked with a gleeful smirk. "Wonder if you taste like chicken." He added that deranged glint still in his optics.

"You are one seriously disturbed Carcharodon Carcharias." Reptilion observed before summoning a third battle club; Cybershark merely shrugged and launched his anchor arm, Reptilion leapt over the claw as it dug into the ground landing on the extended arm; charging along its length. He bounded up onto Cybersharks' shoulder armor and slammed a fist into that grotesquely disturbed visage; following up with a roundhouse kick his talons ripping open four long gouges in Cybersharks' cheek. He spun hard and fast like a top whipping his tail across the behemoths face hoping to finally disorient him enough for a finishing blow; instead he felt a sharp sting of pain shoot along its' length and then a hard yank.  
Tumbling back to the ground he stared up in revulsion and shock seeing his tail dangling from the Maximals' mouth; Cybershark chewed on it a little and then quickly spat it out.

"Far too bitter; oh well that just means I'll have to fricassee you with some TNT." He exclaimed removing his launcher once again and opening fire; Reptilion leapt aside from the initial assault and quickly calculated the amount of explosive energies in each missile. With a small smirk of triumph he flipped over the carcass of Nightglider and quickly crawled up into the shadowy recesses of the cave using a vast stalagmite.  
"Get back down here you pathetic coward!" Cybershark cursed tugging free his forgotten anchor arm and rushing over to the location he'd last seen his quarry; Reptilion chuckled sending his laughter echoing out amongst the confines of the cavern. Cybershark bellowed and began to fire blindly into the air. "Nobody mocks me!" Explosions rang out continuously as missile after missile collided with the ceiling; eventually Reptilions' laughter stopped and Cybershark ceased firing heaving with the exhaustion brought on by berserker fury. A sudden sharp crack caused him to whip his head back to the ceiling missile launcher ready; a stalactite tumbled from the sky gravity and weight causing it to speed up as it drew closer to him. Screams of rage shifted into those of blinding agony as the pointed end tore into his lower abdomen and brought him crashing to the ground where he was pinned mech-fluids pooling about his legs.

"A pity; it appears you missed." Reptilion mocked acidly lightly landing next to his fallen opponent; Cybershark twitched and raised his anchor arm in a futile attempt at salvaging victory from obvious defeat. Reptilion side-stepped the futile assault leapt atop Cybersharks' chest and drove his battle club into the jewel resting there. Violet energies coursed all along Cybersharks' body and he convulsed twice in quick succession before slumping lifeless to the floor.  
By now Sonar and the un-named unit had ceased their pathetic struggle; Reptilion surmised they'd been fearfully awaiting the outcome to his struggle with Cybershark worried that they'd have to deal with him next. They now eyed Reptilion afraid he would turn on them, but he wasn't interested in further pointless pursuits. Twisting the club free from its resting place he hopped off of Cybershark and surveyed the area; with a grimace of disgust he turned back to the two shorter units. Before he could utter a word Waspinator appeared barreling through the gaping entranceway and colliding with the far wall; he was being driven through the air by Scourge who had dug a blade-tipped quarter staff into his chest.  
He body-slammed the hapless wasp up against the wall a second time crushing his left wing before removing his bladed weapon and allowing the pathetic wasp to tumble to the floor.

"You have forfeited the right to depart Waspinator; there can be only one penalty for that." Scourge stated twirling his weapon around and preparing to sever the Predacons' head from his torso; without warning a spike-tipped mace collided with his shoulder as stalagmite clinger hopped to Waspinators' defense. "I see you need to be taught a lesson as well Spittor." He growled lashing out with his left leg; the force of the blow sent Spittor barreling off into the shadows of the distant secondary chamber, which Reptilion now noted as existing. This cavern couldn't truly be called a cavern anymore, with all the structural damages it had sustained he was surprised the whole roof hadn't caved in by now.  
Scourge nodded in satisfaction and turned to face Waspinator again only to find Reptilion and Sonar barring his path.

"This farce ends here Scourge; too many have died already in your twisted little game." Sonar growled her claws glistening as a bolt of lightning ripped across the sky at this most opportune moment.

"Apparently I chose in error; now I'm afraid none of you miserable lot shall ever see Cybertron again! The Pit take you all." Scourge spat twirling his quarterstaff once again this time for a more advantageous attack position; Sonar leapt first only to be batted aside; Reptilion charged battle clubs in hand he blocked the first swing effortlessly and leapt over the second whipping his re-grown tail around striking Scourge across the chest.  
Spittor returned leaping from the shadows and landed atop Scourges' grotesquely long legs, gripping one of the dark units' wings with one webbed hand he smashed the other with his mace. Next a large metallic green claw rose off his back and swiveled around; it dug into Scourges' back eliciting a cry from the larger unit even as green energies traveled through the claw and into Scourge.

"Have some Cyber-Venom on me." He mocked; Scourge hissed and the antenna on his right arms' mounted insect head swiveled to face Spittor, twin bursts of energy erupted from their tips ripping into his armor and sending him tumbling through the air. Spittor landed on the self-same stalagmite he'd been clinging to when Reptilion first saw him, this time however he was impaled and cried out in agony as he slowly began to die.

"Yes, your death shall be a slow and painful one as befits a common thug. For you shall witness their deaths before you die." Scourge mocked; Sonar unleashed a sonic scream that collided with Scourges' back and sent him barreling into the open air outside the entrance. She flew after him; Reptilion turned to Waspinator briefly to see that he was alright.

"Get Spittor off of there, no one deserves that kind of death." He ordered before tightening the grip on his battle clubs and charging after Sonar.

"Even without Megatron around Wazzzzzpinator always salvage." He sighed before moving to his task.

* * *

Reptilion came flying at Scourge fast and hard, both of his clubs connected with his quarterstaff sending a jolt through both combatants' arms; Sonar swooped out of the sky bringing her claws down on his unprotected flank and severed his insect head from his arm. Scourge snarled in rage and brushed Reptilion aside turning to unleash a burst of those strange energies from his insect legs; instead of connecting with Sonar his attack went wide seemingly drawn by a bolt of lightning. She took advantage of this gift and dived at him a second time shearing the legs from his arm and effectively cutting off any further attacks of that nature.  
Backhanding Sonar, Scourge unleashed a kick into Reptilions' chest sending him flying through the air a deep gouge in his armor; next he leapt high and grabbed Sonar with his free hand by the neck. She choked in his grasp as he slowly tightened his hold on her trachea and then he let his quarterstaff fall momentarily. Digging his hand into her chest he reveled at the look of sheer terror imbued in her optics as she realized death was inevitable; suddenly a large tail collided with Scourge and he wound up tumbling backwards losing his grip on the female. 

"Thank you." She whispered coughing through the pain.

"Get back inside and help Spittor and Waspinator." Reptilion ordered his knuckles cracking with the tightness with which he held his clubs. Sonar nodded and limped back inside; Scourge climbed to his feet and mentally summoned his quarterstaff back into his grip twirling it about as he eyed Reptilion.

"He said you would be the one." He remarked cryptically.

"We end this." Reptilion stated a strange sense of calm washing over him as the storm above erupted drenching the land and washing away the evidence of battle, hard rain pelted both warriors armor.

"It was inevitable." Scourge conceded with a nod; and the two combatants charged. Scourge attempted to cleave Reptilions' head from his shoulders only to feel the jarring impact of battle club against quarterstaff; each opponent swung back and forth attempting victory through brute strength yet each time their weapons clashed ringing out in tandem with the massive peals of thunder. After half an hour of back and forth with neither gaining the upper hand Scourge switched tactics and once again kicked Reptilion through the air. He tore across the ground coming to a stop eighteen feet away; Scourge chuckled as he pointed at Reptilions' fallen form.  
"You are beaten it is useless to resist." He stated beginning to approach at a slow even pace.

"Scourge." Reptilion groaned attempting to struggle to his feet and failing; Scourge regarded him quizzically. "These aren't just battle clubs." He added hurling both weapons through the air; they flew straight and true slamming into Scourges' chest and imbedding there. Scourge stared at them bemusedly and continued his inexorable approach opting to ignore them.

"How pathetic." He scoffed.

"Wait for it." Reptilion smirked; Scourge eyed him incredulously before his audio circuits detected the faint beeping he hadn't paid much attention to earlier, realization hit yet too late for as he feebly attempted to remove them discovering they were stuck tight both missiles detonated. Scourges' body flew apart torn open from within his upper body flew across the landscape in tiny pieces even as his legs tumbled smoking to the ground twitching in a grotesque parody of life. Reptilion at last managed to struggle to his feet even as his spark chamber initiated repairs; the rain still falling though now in a gentler peaceful downpour.

"Excellent Reptilion; Scourge was one of my strongest creations and you have terminated him." A deep voice praised startling Reptilion. "Thus you have earned the right to take his place, but I shall honor his original bargain and return you to your sister." The voice concluded; Reptilion searched in vain unable to locate the source as he adopted a dubious expression.

"No strings?" He demanded unaware that even as he spoke a small vortex opened behind him.

"You have my word." The voice agreed with a deep chuckle; Reptilion nodded and entered the portal not once thinking of those three that may yet still be functional.

* * *

I returned from my reverie and examined the region; it appeared to be a former industrial center with factories and foundries dotting the landscape, or at least their remains. The signature I had been tracking was just above me opposite the highway and moving along' apparently they'd finally decided to seek out other life forms. Slipping over the railing and back atop the metallic surface I discovered much to my surprise a spindly legged dark metallic blue and orange black widow spider with a splash of purple on her abdomen. She seemed to sense me and whirled around faster then I'd give her credit for. 

"Reptilion." She greeted her chelicerae twitching in excitement.

"Black Arachnia." I returned with a curt nod; at least Unicron had a sense of humor giving her my old color scheme, though it wasn't identical.

"Sibling you've changed again." She noted; I grinned flicking my tongue out to indicate her own changes.

"Unicron I assume." I remarked noting the new Decepticon insignia hidden in a recess of her abdomen; this was beginning to make certain sense, she had been found next to a mysterious warrior similar in vein to Scourge.

"I was debating whether or not to go in search of someone; it appears that taking my time allowed you to find me yet again." She observed approaching me and stroking my back with one of her legs in a rare show of sisterly affection.

"My sensors." I exclaimed surprised by a sudden new energy signature when this planet had only held two previously; or at least within my sensor range. I turned my head to pinpoint the exact location and discovered it with minimal effort; then again something that big was hard to miss. "I believe our next stop is in there." I stated indicating the large black obelisk where none had been before. Black Arachnia shivered in apprehension and made a small hissing sound as she observed the strange obelisk; she could sense the darkness emanating from it same as me.

"Shall we greet this newcomer?" I wondered adopting a wide smirk.

"Lead the way dear brother." She returned indicating the long stretch of highway before us.

* * *

We chose to travel in silence and now as we arrived I wished we had done anything but; the obelisk in question was a dark spike in the center of this once pristine city; its smooth elegance belied the sinister intentions of those who had once dwelled within. As evidenced by the rich amount of negative energy I was getting just from being next to the place; as Iacon surrounded it, the construct was devoid of any living individuals save for the one my sensors had detected. The entrance hall beckoned through the thick sheets of glass-like substance that served as a doorway; it was barren of any furnishings and the walls showed nothing of the history of this place. As we passed within a jolt screamed from within my spark; this building was as foreboding and evil as Unicron himself.  
The hallway leading deeper within was worse; it appeared to have been polished more times then was prudent and proved just as bare as the entranceway. The doorways leading off appeared to be sealed; only the turbo lift opposite the main entrance was accessible. We made our way slowly towards the shaft and slipped inside cautiously; my sensors however detected no foreign power sources therefore the device should be safe. It rose silently traveling up fifteen floors before letting us off; this hall was shorter then the other and had no other avenues open save the door at the end.  
Black Arachnia shared a curious look with me and together we pushed onward; entering the room I was surprised to find the place practically buried in computer consoles and monitors. Wires and cables littered the grounds connecting all of these devices to the central control chair, which proved to be designed for a large individual. 

"Greetings Reptilion, Black Arachnia I see Unicron saw fit to bestow upon my personage two extraordinary units to serve as my lieutenants." A dark toned voice stated as the chair slowly turned to face us. "After all not many can claim they have bested two of the Chaos Bringers heralds." He added with a small knowing smile. My optics widened in shock as the lighting levels rose and I could see the full extent of this mysterious signatures' form; he was massive, black, purple, and red in color with a green Maximal emblem situated dead center on his chest. And yet he was obviously a Decepticon as evidenced by his sheer size for no Maximal had even been equal in height to the great warriors of the past.

"Tigerhawk?" Black Arachnia gasped in shock.

"Negative Ms. Arachnia; I merely resemble that Maximal unit, I am Razorclaw the leader of this new Decepticon army." He returned with a second slight smile this one hinting at the true cunning of this behemoth.

"An army of three." I pointed out speaking before considering all possible reactions this stranger might enact upon.

"For the moment." Razorclaw began rising to his feet and clasping his hands behind his back as he turned to examine several monitors hidden in the recesses of the shadows surrounding him. Seeing him standing at full height made my circuits tremble; this Razorclaw was indeed a Decepticon and one to be wary of, he stood at least as large as the original Megatron had been. Only his mechanical beast mode, which resembled a Transmetal Two design aesthetic showed him to be far more open then that relic. "But Unicron has assured me that more Decepticons shall join us as time and situations permit; we shall become the conquerors of the entire Multiverse."

"Setting his sights a little high isn't he." Arachnia muttered to me.

"Not if Unicron is truly behind this." I returned; alarms began to blare instantly before she could counter my remark with one of her own and Razorclaw turned back to us a wolfish grin gracing his features.

"Ah the Autobots have arrived; shall we go to meet our chosen adversaries." He suggested assuming his beast mode; it was a powerful looking fusion of tiger and hawk and his wingspan alone dwarfed us. He circled above us briefly and glanced down with a dark smile a thick purple tongue flicking out to lick his upper lips in a semblance of lustful desire. "Decepticons follow me to Victory!" He cried; his voice ringing out in the confines of this cluttered room and reverberating off the walls until it sounded as if an army truly was answering his calls to battle.

* * *

Razorclaw took us to the Autobots' location on his back most likely so that he could meet his adversary quickly. As we approached Arachnia and I leapt off and stood facing our foes; one was a purple wolf, eagle fusion with a red and silver streak running down his back and neon green highlights. The second was Technorganic in nature like Black Arachnia; he was a mostly black and red lion with purple, yellow and orange thrown in for good measure. Their leader was a blend of maroon, green and yellow with a red and silver marking on his head similar in vein to the fuzors'; he was a gorilla and therefore could be only one unit I knew of. 

"Ah Optimus Primal." Razorclaw stated in an almost cheery tone confirming my suspicions.

"Razorclaw." Primal returned with a curt nod; had the two already met or did Unicron and Primus bestow their chosen leaders with ultimate knowledge?

"What was it your old adversary once said?" Razorclaw wondered tilting his head in thought. "Ah yes." He exclaimed optics twinkling with amusement. "You will forgive any paraphrasing of course… Across the Multiverse it has all boiled down to this; tooth to tooth, claw to claw… Yesssss." He concluded; I eyed Razorclaw confusedly, ultimate knowledge it had to be judging by the tense expression on Primals' face and the way his shoulder muscles were bunching up.

"Silverbolt." Black Arachnia suddenly exclaimed interrupting this strange confrontation; the fuzor bristled his feathers and nodded choosing not to speak.

"Enough of this benign waste of time." Razorclaw snapped landing beside us. "Let the very battle for the ultimate prize commence this day, Decepticons Transform and Attack!"

"Autobots! Take them down." Primal countered even as all six of us transformed the ancient sounds more associated with our ancestors echoing across the sky; as each of us chose a dance partner, so to speak I began to generate my armaments. As we charged one another I could have sworn that a melody began to play; I quickly shook this distracting thought aside and fully solidified my trusted battle clubs; not surprised that they'd altered into a green coloring as well. Arachnia and the lion clashed; Primal and Razorclaw faced one another and that left me to deal with Silverbolt.  
He brought his twin blades down and I countered the blows; his teeth glinted in the lazy early evening sunlight as he growled and swung a second time. I dodged; ducking low to the ground and sweeping my tail under his feet knocking him down; he turned his fall to his advantage rolling backwards rising back to one knee. Both blades crossed to block my incoming clubs; he forced me back with a show of impressive strength and regained his footing while I fought to retain my balance.  
I lashed out with my right foot catching him in the midriff and sending him crashing through one of the myriad broken windows of the warehouse or whatever who's shadow we were in. Leaping after him I was met with twin explosions; knocked backwards I stumbled over a piece of debris, but still managed to catch his renewed assault with the edge of one of my clubs turning his blade aside. Our battle devolved into another series of parries and counter moves club against sword echoing my last such encounter with Scourge as we danced around the twisting shadows of the decrepit construct caused by the slowly sinking sun. Our blows and grunts echoed among the buildings silence drowned out only by the explosions tearing across the sky caused by Primal and Razorclaws' battle.

"You fight well." I acknowledged as our weapons locked and our faces drew to within mere inches apart.

"As do you." He returned pushing me back with a mighty heave; I bent low once again and attempted an uppercut, but he leapt out of my reach twirling in midair to use full momentum in a kick to the face. I crashed to the ground with a curse and flung both clubs fast; they detonated about him as my spark panel opened and two more solidified in my grip, I could say this much for Unicron his upgrades did offer enhanced speed. Silverbolt circled me searching for an opening; I circled as well keeping my front to him not relinquishing any footing. We eyed each other wondering who would make the first move; when suddenly Primals' voice rang out amongst the growing dusk.

"Autobots' fall back!" He ordered; Silverbolt appeared shocked, I smiled.

"Another time perhaps." I mocked. He shifted into beast mode with a growl and took a parting shot at me; both missiles detonated at my feet sending me over the lip of the highway where we'd wound up. My tail caught the railing and I grinned at his retreating form.

"Not so noble is he." I remarked; Arachnia appeared above me with a grin.

"Need a hand brother." She called down.

"If you can spare one." I quipped willing my clubs away with a single thought.

"They shall think twice before returning to Iacon for another confrontation I think." Razorclaw remarked as he joined us; he was once again in beast mode and took to pruning his feathers as Arachnia helped me up.

"The war has begun." She stated sounding too prophetic for my tastes.

"Not just a war sister." I countered. "This is to be the ultimate clash and the possibilities are… Limitless."

"Indeed Reptilion, but we shall be ready for whatever pathetic personages Primus chooses for his side." Razorclaw stated.

"And whatever Unicron chooses for us." Arachnia added. "Decepticons; at least some of them can be notorious traitors after all."

"Indeed fair widow." Razorclaw intoned eyeing my sibling with a knowing look; she turned her gaze away from him and regarded the still retreating forms of the Autobots. Only Unicron himself could know what was traveling through her head; yet I believed I had a rough idea.

* * *

The decaying form of Unicrons' planet mode observed these events and seemed pleased; for he had chosen a worthy commander. 

"Well Primus old foe; you have… How shall we put it? First dibs on new additions I believe." He reminded his deep baritone addressing the invisible form of his adversary who he could detect hovering nearby. "I trust you won't wait too long to augment our forces."

"Patience chaotic one was never your strength." Primus' ethereal voice called out; Unicron chuckled and watched the sun finish its' descent on this chosen battlefield.

The Beginning

**R&R Folks, if you please.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes:** I suppose nobody likes this story then? I haven't got more then one review; is it perhaps too 'out there' for your liking, or maybe you just don't know what to say? I'd appreciate any reviews you readers would care to give, in the mean time here's an update; just because I can.

* * *

I sat in the abandoned shell yard eyeing the bodies of the captured Maximals; yet seeing nothing, I lightly ran my claws through the fur of his fallen form. I'd found it not long after we discovered who he'd become; I knew I shouldn't be in robot mode, but I just couldn't bring myself to care anymore. The ever present darkness of Cybertron left me feeling even emptier inside; I was hollow and I knew deep down inside I might never recover.

"Damn it Rover; after I gave up everything for you, you just had to get swayed from the light." I moaned letting the sorrow permeate my voice; something I'd rarely do among my comrades. I quietly sat touching his muzzle; stroking the top of his head, despite the morbid fact that this was his corpse it still felt warm to the touch, or perhaps that was my imagination. I wasn't ready to return to the others just yet, but as I sat there something suddenly lit up the sky over Cybertropolis and I was forced to shield my eyes from the brightness.  
When I could see again my spark was filled with a deep foreboding; flames were licking the sky and Vehicon aerodrones were visible silhouetted against the billowing tongues of flame. I had to find out what was going on; the others couldn't have started the attack already, it would have been foolish. So I ran off heading in the direction of the explosion; a part of me wondered why it had been so silent though.

Black Arachnia

The black, orange and green Cybertronian steam shovel nearly collided with one of the dull copper, beige and silver Assault Drones; Blast Charge growled as his drone exploded under friendly fire.

"Scavenger either quit firing or learn how to aim." He snarled even as the rest of his drones opened fire on the mysterious attacker.

"Oh slag off." Scavenger shot back; he shifted to robot mode and launched his mini-rockets at the enemy. The Maximal in question was a hulking mostly dark brown and copper combination with aqua green and slight silver detailings. He was a Transmetal; as evidenced by the metallic blue shoulder armor; as Scavenger and Blast Charge kept him busy alongside the drones Jetstorm circled above one of Megatrons' virus canisters in hand. The unknown warrior fired non-stop with his massive rocket launcher and even his smaller rapid fire rifle; the drones were quick to fall, Jetstorm chuckled as he finally got into position and released the canister.

"Nighty night Maximal." He quipped as the canister impacted on the back of the brute; it exploded expanding a cloud of green mist around the hapless foe, however when the contaminant dissipated the creature stood apparently unaffected. He didn't say a single word merely sneered, or at least approximated the gesture; his facial structure hadn't exactly been designed with a regular mouth in mind. Then he began the process of destroying every last drone present; he appeared to be reveling in the chaotic destruction.

"Vehicons I suggest we regroup and discuss this menace with Megatron to… Ah decide upon a new strategy for handling him." Scavenger intoned careful to keep the fear from his voice.

"And run away from a lowly Maximal?" Jetstorm demanded. "No way."

"Come on 'Storm, we've got no chance; besides I'm beginning to think he's no Maximal." Blast Charge countered before turning tail and rumbling away as fast as his six wheels could take him. Scavenger returned to vehicle mode and rushed to join him; Jetstorm would have remained, but the final gruesome death of the remaining drones decided his course of action for him.

"We'll be back with more drones then even you can deal with!" He threatened before rocketing off; the unknowns' optics lit up in a smile and he returned his weapons to storage.

"Phase one complete, now to wait for a Maximal." He remarked casually as he sat on a pile of Vehicon parts and leant back admiring his own handiwork.

* * *

I arrived on what remained of this particular battlefield shortly after the Vehicons fled; though I had only seen three retreating forms from the roadway I'd been skittering along, drones and drone body parts littered the Vehicon construction plant. And yet it did not look like the work of my comrades; something about all of this sent a shudder down my spine, even though Spiders have none.

"The Maximal Black Arachnia." A voice stated; at once I had transformed and adopted a defensive stance, the voice had been tinged with darkness and a slight hint of familiarity to it.

"Show yourself." I ordered glancing every which way for the owner of that voice; it did me no good for I soon found myself being held by the beast, his hand was big enough to wrap around both my arms and my waist effectively rendering me helpless since I couldn't maneuver my abdomen around to short him. He turned me gently in his grip so that I could face him and all six eyes widened in sudden fear; I recognized the form that stood before me and it was no wonder he'd captured me so effortlessly. Yet his coloring was all wrong and something about his optics hinted at more compassion then he'd ever shown before; despite the futility of it all I attempted to shock him, my attack did manage to hit, but his Transmetalized form repelled the assault. He chuckled at my useless attempt to gain freedom and I slumped dejectedly in his grip awaiting my fate.

"Pretty little spider; how intriguing." He remarked as if he'd never seen me before. "So where are your friends?" He demanded startling me with the shortness of his tone; as if he was preoccupied with something other then me. "I have a fairly tight schedule to maintain and it would help if we could get this over with already." He elaborated cocking his head to one side and tapping his chin thoughtfully with his free hand; as if he were debating whether or not to torture me for the information.

"We're right behind ya." Rattraps' familiar voice stated startling the both of us; he turned in obvious bemusement and I could see that all of my friends were here. Optimus cracked his knuckles while Cheetor brandished his swords; Nightscream and Longhorn readied their own weapons while Rattrap backed off a little searching for a still functional drone to use with his eyes.

"Release her Rampage." Cheetor ordered showing his misguided affection for me; the Predacon chuckled at that and shook his head.

"I am Shokaract." He corrected releasing me so suddenly that I hadn't much time to prepare; tucking my legs closer to my posterior I managed to roll with the fall and land on the sharp stilettos' I'd become accustomed to in this new form. "And I have no intention of fighting you; just yet." He added under his breath too low for the others to hear, but I heard and the implications that brought released the same feeling of dread I'd experienced when I first saw the explosion; as if we were all facing impending doom and could do nothing to prevent it.

"You think we're going to believe you?" Nightscream shot back flicking his hair out of his eyes as he usually did; say what you will about Technorganics, they did have their downsides.

"The kid has a point." Longhorn added with a snort sharpening the blades in his hands on the horns on his head; he was an annoying Maximal at times and no Rhinox, but we still hadn't found out what happened to the big green lug and Longhorn was the closest thing to a heavy hitter we had going for us. Shokaract shrugged and pulled out his rifle; before any one of us could react he fired, the aerodrone that had been inching towards Longhorn exploded.

"Perhaps that will prove that my intentions are of the noblest designs." He remarked returning the rifle to wherever he'd pulled it from; I could have voiced my own concerns right then at the words I'd overheard, but something about all of this made me wish to keep silent.

"What do you mean?" Primal wondered his tone wary of any possible deceptions.

"I mean; the Oracle summoned me here to provide you the means of defeating Megatron once and for all." He replied smiling openly in a show of friendship; I knew we couldn't trust him and yet the big ape had been so twisted by that creepy Oracle of late…

"Oh come on Optimus, ya can't seriously buy this load?" Rattrap blurted turning from glaring at Shokaract to eyeing Primal incredulously; ah yes, same old Rattrap I smiled at the usual worrying the rodent did. He seemed to act like a conscience or perhaps merely had more wisdom due to his years of experience.

"I, I don't know what to believe Rattrap." Primal returned in an apologetic sounding tone; he began to pace and Cheetor eyed him now too.

"Optimus he looks like Rampage; he even acts like Rampage, you can't trust him." He stated vehemently.

"Who's this Rampage guy and what's so bad about him?" Nightscream wondered; I shuddered at memories of first meeting Rampage, Rover-boy had been with me then; that was when we first admitted our feelings… Though not to each other; I looked to the surface of Cybertron downcast for a few moments and managed to collect myself.

"Forget about it kid he's dead, but this guy must have crawled out of the same gene pool." I replied with a sneer; I shot Shokaract a glare and he chuckled reaching down and cupping my chin in his hand, I shook free and continued to glare he had no right to touch me in such a manner.

"They sure don't make any like you anymore." He remarked with a leering gaze; Cheetor growled and prepared to cut into Shokaract, literally when the ground nearby shook a little and Hammer Strike leapt out. The technorganic shark converted to robot mode and eyed Shokaract briefly before rushing over to Primal.

"News update Optimus; Megatron has fortified the Citadel with what has to be every Vehicon drone on the planet." He reported in a rush; the problem with having a shark for a beast mode, it wasn't very good on a waterless planet like Cybertron.

"That's settled it then." Primal stated. "Shokaract is coming with us; we're going to need him to end this." He added shifting back to beast mode as he spoke; Rattrap, Cheetor and I would have protested the decision if Shokaract hadn't transformed into his own beast mode and began to lead the way to the Citadel.

"Optimus you're making a mistake." Cheetor argued also shifting to beast mode; he shook his head knowing that the Predacon shouldn't be going with us.

"My decision is final Cheetor; now the rest of you transform and follow me." He ordered; the others were quick to follow, but a part of me silently wondered just what we'd gotten ourselves into this day.

* * *

"I thought fish face iced the big crustacean for good." Thrust muttered as he rolled back and forth in front of Megatrons' hovering form. Jetstorm hovered alongside Blast Charge as the two silently observed their leader; Mirage was nowhere to be found as usual and Scavenger was busy out front overseeing the troop deployment. Both of them also knew the importance of things if that was indeed Rampage, and how could it not be?

"I am more concerned with why my virus had no effect on him." Megatron revealed in a curious filled tone. "Even a Transformer as unique as Rampage would not be immune to it." He added rubbing his chin in thought; Jetstorms' optics flashed and he crossed his arms over his chest, Blast Charge however took a step forward.

"We don't know how he got here." He pointed out. "If that so called Oracle sent him he could have been immunized."

"But he's not a technorganic." Thrust countered his claws opening and closing out of reflex; Blast Charge conceded this with a nod and moved over to the computer console.

"Maybe his arrival was documented." He mused.

"Don't bother checking." A soft sultry voice informed from the shadows. "I can put all these boundless fears to rest." It added before the air shimmered in a certain spot amongst the shadows and Mirage appeared; she sauntered seductively towards Blast Charge and planted a kiss on her lovers' lips, or what passed for them.

"Well; what do you have to report?" Megatron demanded impatiently secretly enraged at the actions of his generals; Mirage shrugged and tickled Blast Charges' chest manifold eliciting a low moan from the brute.

"Not Rampage; the guy says' his name's Shokaract." She revealed still gazing longingly into Blast Charges' optics. Megatrons own optics narrowed and he would have said something if not for the explosion that suddenly rocked the building. "Oh yeah; the Maximals are coming." She added almost as if an afterthought, Thrust snorted and rolled quickly towards the entrance; only to be thrown back by a sonic attack.  
Optimus Primal, Nightscream, Cheetor, Rattrap, Hammer Strike and Black Arachnia stood in the entrance their silhouettes indicating they were poised for attack.

* * *

"Looks like Shokaract started the party outside." Hammer Strike quipped as we made our way into the Citadels' throne room; I ignored the younger Maximals good natured attitude and my optics quickly shot over to Jetstorm who was eyeing me in turn with a look of pure hatred.

"I wouldn't celebrate about it." Rattrap retorted in a low mumble; I tried to shake off the pain Jetstorms' look gave me, but it wasn't easy. Blast Charge, Mirage and Thrust were also in the room eyeing us with a mixture of surprise and glee, they must have thought today would finally net them victory.

"So you have allied yourself with the unknown." Megatron stated the numerous cables letting loose a hissing sound as the mechanism moved him closer to our location and I could see that odd scratch above his optic; once again I wondered how he'd gotten it. "How unlike you Primal."

"It ends between us Megatron; today we settle things." Primal proclaimed the Vehicon generals readied their weapons anticipating a fight; they would not be disappointed. Without warning Longhorn sailed overhead and collided with the hovering walkway; his body was leaking a dark reddish substance that could have been mech fluid and his left arm had been sheared off. Scavengers' twisted remains were next; his optics already void of life, Nightscream rushed to Longhorns' side and gently cradled his dieing friends' head even as a shiver of apprehension ran down my spine.

"What happened?" He whispered.

"Sh-Sh-Shokaract…" He managed to get out before his life faded and he breathed his last; all optics now turned to the Predacon who had come up silently and now stood among us openly laughing madly as he twirled his rifle around his index finger in satisfaction.

"What is the meaning of this?" Primal demanded; honestly how blind could the great ape be? I readied a web-star prepared to attack at the least sign of provocation and I could see that I wasn't the only one.

"I must thank you Primal; firstly for getting me in here so I could ensure the drones stay out of our little dance." He began in a bored sounding tone as if he'd practiced this a hundred times by now. "And secondly for getting everybody in one room; my lord Unicron will be pleased at how swiftly I saw to his designs."

"Unicron!" Rattrap blurted; I took a step back afraid of what his words implied, but to a certain degree it made sense. Shokaract shot us all a look of contempt his optics lingering on me lustily before he yanked his rocket launcher free and opened fire; Cheetor dodged the initial salvo and Thrust managed to narrowly avoid a burst of fire.  
Nightscream rose into the air angrily and lashed out in rage; Shokaract dropped his rifle and caught the young Maximals' energy absorbing line, he yanked hard and whipped him around. Nightscream slammed into the far wall and cried out in pain; I winced in sympathy for him, but I had my own problems to deal with. Cheetor raced in with his swords and sliced into Shokaracts' armor; twin tiny scratches barely longer then an inch marred the pristine surface and Shokaract laughed darkly. Blast Charge leveled his tri-barreled launcher on the Predacon and opened fire; I couldn't believe the Vehicon was joining in on the attack, but I shouldn't have been surprised. Unicron's followers were no friends to our kind; soon Mirage, Thrust and Jetstorm also opened fire. Optimus hurled energy shurikens and Rattrap raced to check on Nightscream; Shokaract didn't seem to be phased by the attack, which wasn't very reassuring considering how much firepower the Vehicons had access to.

"Cheetor back off!" Primal exclaimed; Cheetor nodded and dove aside, Shokaract fired off his rocket launcher in my direction forcing me to dive out of the way. I launched my almost forgotten web-shuriken at him despite how futile our attacks seemed; he actually caught the slaggin' thing and crushed it in his hand, if he could he'd probably be licking his lips in a disgusting display of lustful intent.

"He's only a Transmetal, how can he be so slaggin' strong?" Thrust demanded as he unleashed another burst of laser fire; I was beginning to wonder about that myself, I knew Unicron's chosen were usually tough, but he had used a Transmetal for a template after all.

"The answer is quite simple my weak minded fool." Shokaract stated even as he knelt to retrieve his rifle and renewed peppering the room with its firepower. "My master has bestowed upon me the Decepticon Matrix of Conquest." He revealed; I couldn't believe my audios the Decepticon Matrix was only a legend, Primal was frozen in shock his optics distant as missiles rained all around him. I sighed and latched onto him with a web-line yanking him out of the line of fire; Cheetor, Rattrap and I regrouped around Nightscream who was nursing a broken arm.

"So how can we stop him now?" Rattrap asked; Cheetor shrugged and Nightscream groaned.

"What happened to Hammer Strike?" The young survivor wondered; I was ashamed to admit I'd forgotten about the aquatic Maximal and took the opportunity to examine the room. The Vehicons were still firing on Shokaract while Megatron seemed to be trying to summon his drones; and then I spotted Hammer Strike, or at least his fin. With a mighty leap he surged into the air; transformed into robot mode axe in hand and appeared to be making a direct beeline for Shokaract who was too distracted to notice the back attack.

"Oh no." I whispered the dread in my spark growing as I watched him drawing ever closer to the Predacon.

"He ain't serious." Rattrap exclaimed fearfully."

"Hammer Strike you idiot." Cheetor cursed; Nightscream struggled to his feet and tried to cry out to stop his other friend, but it was too late. Hammer Strike collided with Shokaracts' body and using every ounce of strength he slammed his axe into the armor between shoulder blade and elbow. Shokaract screamed as the weapon bit down into his armor actually managing to pierce it; he glared at Hammer Strike and eyed the injury to his person in seeming shock. The battle froze as all of us realized the importance of this revelation; Thrust and Blast Charge renewed their assault making sure to target the Predacons' weaker armor joints, Shokaract slammed Hammer Strike into the wall and whirled on the balls of his feet. His weapons blazed as he now fought to regain control of the situation; Blast Charge screamed in pain as triple rockets tore into his chest and knocked him back to the edge of the walkway he'd been standing on, Mirage let her pistol fall to the ground as she ran up to him. Jetstorm eyed the Vehicon with something akin to pity in his usually arrogant filled optics; Shokaract was firing madly now with no obvious strategy and Thrust was soon riddled with laser bullets sending him tumbling into the pit that was the Citadels' lower levels. Jetstorm fired now with pinpoint accuracy; dodging effortlessly, but my spark still pulsated with a hint of fear for I knew he could die just as easily as the rest of us.

"Blast Charge; my love." Mirage whispered among the sounds of battle; she knelt beside her love and stroked his mechanical cheek in a show of devotion. Blast Charge groaned and made a hacking sound with his vocoder; he was definitely passing on into the matrix.

"Mirage; I-I-I failed you." He gasped his body shuddering as the mech fluid gushed from his wounds; if Mirage could cry she'd be doing that right now. Suddenly Megatron leapt free of his harness revealing his full Transmetal Two form; he unleashed a wave of flames striking at Shokaract who actually screamed at the pain as some of his armor became super hot.

"Mirage, Jetstorm escort the Maximals to safety." He ordered.

"Say what?" Jetstorm demanded incredulously.

"I am no fool; this Predacon is a truly deadly adversary, we must have time to plan a counter offensive, yesssss." Megatron explained; even as Hammer Strike, now recovered, plowed into Shokaract a second time driving his axe head in deeper desperate to help slow him down.

"All right you're the boss, but I still think we can take him." Jetstorm bragged moving over to us.

"I can't leave you." Mirage proclaimed clutching desperately at Blast Charge; he chuckled lightly and reached out to grasp her hand.

"You must, Megatron is right." He countered his voice growing fainter; he would soon die leaving another empty shell in this room. Rattrap was already finding us an escape tunnel; he and Nightscream broke open the secret exit the elders once used during the Predacon uprisings, he blew a shrill whistle and waved us over.

"Come on people everybody out o' the pool!" He shouted as Cheetor led Nightscream into the tunnel; I began to follow with Optimus when he finally broke free of his stupor and turned to us.

"No, I am needed here." He stated as he'd been in contact with the Oracle once more.

"But, Optimus." Rattrap began; I lowered my head in silent understanding and released the webbing.

"Come on Rat-face." I whispered dragging him towards the waiting Vehicons; Mirage must have bid farewell to her love and joined Jetstorm while I'd been distracted with Optimus. Rattrap sighed in understanding and together we left pausing only to see that the door was closed; I caught Primals' last look directed towards me, something about that look zapped me of all strength still in me and I felt my knees buckling.

"Careful she-spider." Rattrap quipped trying not to sound like he wanted to cry. "Can't lose you; not until after we get 'Bolt out of Jetstorm over there." He added with a smile directed towards me; I smiled a little at his optimism and together we quickly raced to catch up with the others.

"We forgot Hammer Strike." Nightscream muttered through the pain as we continued down the tunnel.

"The kid's got his own unique little escape mechanism." I reminded knowing deep down inside that he wouldn't be able to use it; and yet he would keep fighting until that monster killed him; he was just too damn noble for a shark.

* * *

Hammer Strike lay slumped against the wall watching as both Megatron and Primal fought Shokaract; he was clutching his side in pain and yet he couldn't bring himself to flee, what was the point?

"Side by side; Primal." Megatron remarked in between volleys.

"Unicron can never win." Primal simply stated; Megatron nodded he'd worked to hard to lose his planet now, he would stop this threat personally, he was Transmetal Two after all though he was loathe to admit it. The battle exploded quickly into anarchy as both leaders dished out punishment actually managing to damage Shokaract even further now that they knew his weakness. Though it was still not enough to slow him down; Primal was the first to suffer a crippling blow, Shokaract had lost his rocket launcher sometime during the free for all and he was resorting to fists. Primal's leg buckled under a particularly nasty punch even as he flung another energy shuriken; it detonated in the torn section of armor Hammer Strike had managed to widen.  
Megatron bellowed as his wing was shredded the price for getting to close; he launched an assault on Shokaract only to have his cannon arm twisted by the Predacon now that he could focus on a single opponent, he shattered the ligaments in the dragon neck rendering the arm useless. Shokaract tossed the Vehicon leader into a winded Primal and the two fell down into the pit landing atop the dark floor; Shokaract growled low in his throat and targeted his rifle at both fallen leaders.

"This was quite the challenge, but I'm afraid I've wasted enough time with you two." He stated before depressing the trigger; Primal was thrown back by the blast dead before he hit the floor again, while Megatron managed to tenaciously cling to life.

"I will not lose Cybertrons' sparks to Unicron." He muttered darkly; fumbling with his right hand he managed to punch a sequence into his mangled left wrist just behind the dragons' crest where a console had been grafted on, he smiled up at Shokaract darkly after succeeding the mech fluid covering his teeth giving him an even greater demonic appearance.

* * *

I jumped in shock as the Citadel imploded grateful that we managed to get out in time; a giant cloud of blue green vapor rose from the remains. Cheetor and Rattrap bowed their heads while Nightscream and Mirage stared agape, I felt tears literally falling from my primary optics and I averted them so I wouldn't have to see the horrific sight.

"He killed the entire populace." Jetstorm gasped; his words brought me up short and I looked into his optics to see them flickering between the red of Jetstorm and the yellow of Silverbolt. "He…Destroyed an entire race."

"Not yet he hasn't." Cheetor countered a look of determination in his optics.

"Tell me crabby died in that too." Rattrap pleaded turning to Mirage; she zeroed in on ground zero her long range optics searching for any sign of movement.

"Primus." Was her response as her optics widened; the sudden silence of Cybertron was broken by an all too familiar sound, somewhere down in that pit of death and horrors a tank-crab was moving.

"You gotta be kiddin' me!" Rattrap groaned turning to Cheetor. "I'm kinda open to suggestions here spots."

"We can't run." He returned. "So we fight."

"How?" Nightscream blurted. "If even Megatron couldn't stop that… That creature of darkness; just how the pit are we supposed to?"

"Spark extractor." Mirage suddenly exclaimed slapping her head with the palm of her hand; she spun to face all of us. "How could we be so dense? I'm betting even that slaggin' spawn of Unicron isn't immune to having his spark forcibly removed."

"Yeah right; if we can get close to him." Rattrap retorted with usual pessimism.

"I can do it." I spoke up surprising myself more then my fellow survivors.

"Black Arachnia." Cheetor began to argue, but I cut him off.

"I can do it." I repeated emphasizing each syllable; he nodded in understanding before pulling out his swords.

"Nightscream, Rattrap we're holding him off; nothing fancy just keep him busy." He stated. "Mirage, Jetstorm take her and get that spark extractor."

"Who died and left you in charge?" Jetstorm demanded resuming his obnoxious personality despite the morbid choice of words.

"Just do it!" Cheetor shot back; Jetstorm shied away from him seeming to realize he'd crossed a line; Mirage and I took off with me riding atop the faster ground vehicle, Jetstorm was quick to follow.

"Oh man, oh man we're all gonna die." Rattrap moaned; I fervently prayed we wouldn't, someone had to rebuild our civilization and yet a part of me felt that this time there was no coming back.

* * *

We raced along through the city; I couldn't bring myself to look back, I knew Cheetor and the others had signed their death warrants when they chose to hung back. After what felt like hours, but had to be only a few minutes I was led into another warehouse; Mirage raced over to a corner and came back with the spark extractor we needed. That's when time ran out for us, though I don't know how he got here so fast; the rear wall exploded and Cheetor was sent flying into the building, he collided with Mirage and knocked her under a pile of girders. My optics widened with fear as a blackened, marred and extremely pissed off Shokaract barged in; at least he'd lost his weapons, but I had a feeling that didn't make him any less dangerous.

"Oh the big bad crab, you're not so tough fillet bait." Jetstorm mocked; he shot me an odd look and then raced forwards weapons blazing. Shokaract cursed and transformed, he grabbed Jetstorm in one claw and used his other to gouge him. I felt myself filling with great despair; I also found myself racing forward to where Mirage had stood, ducking down I scooped up the spark extractor and raced towards the monster.  
Leaping into the air I curled under his free claw and slid beneath his body even as he let out an exclamation of surprise; jamming the spark extractor against his skin I felt hot tears streaking my face even as I held onto the extractor with all my might as the crab's body began to buck and thrash resisting the power of the device. He couldn't resist indefinitely; soon his body gave one final shudder and surprisingly he transformed into robot mode even as his spark was ripped from its chamber. I eyed the glowing purple sphere with disgust; this monster had taken everything from us, our hope and our chance for happiness. I removed the spark with one claw holding it up so I could look upon the pulsating core of life that was Shokaract; even as I squeezed it between my claws. It imploded with a sudden flash and with that one simple act Shokaract was dead; I shoved the corpse off of me and rushed to Jetstorms' side.

"Don't know why you're so concerned about me." He gasped through his obvious pain; I found myself mimicking Mirages' earlier actions as I gently stroked the flyboy's cheek.

"I don't care who Megatron turned you into; you'll always be Silverbolt to me." I whispered leaning close enough to kiss his faceplate; he laughed at that, no animosity or cruelty behind it whatsoever as his three clawed hand reached up to caress my own cheek.

"Looks like I caught'em all then." He softly stated. "Or at least…All, that matt…"His voice trailed off and he died in my arms; I'd lost him again, I'd gotten him back only to lose him again, life was unfair. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and glancing up I was shocked at who I saw; through the tears I was looking at a dark orange and metallic blue transmetal two. He smiled sympathetically at me and brushed my hair, or at least what served as hair; aside and let out a small sigh of contentment.

"Hey little bit." He stated briefly glancing over to Shokaract.

"Reptilion?" I gasped some of my anguish replaced with newfound joy, though admittedly it wasn't much.

"Yeah, it's me." He acknowledged openly stroking my hair; he'd never done anything like that before and a deep sadness entered his optics as he once more regarded Shokaracts' fallen form with something akin to understanding in his optics. Suddenly his optics widened in fear; I spun to face the beast as well and nearly crumbled into his arms at the sight before us, Mirage had removed the Matrix from his chest and she seemed to be cradling it.

"Mirage." Cheetor exclaimed; so he was still alive, she looked up madness in her optics.

"We can all be together again." She stated slowly beginning to place her fingers into the notches on the handles.

"No!" I cried, but it was too late; she pulled the twin halves apart and the dark energies of the obsidian crystal within expanded outward killing her instantly.

"Black Arachnia!" Reptilion cried out above the sudden windstorm pulling me close; my eyes widened in fear as I saw a dark purple vortex opening up behind us. "Wherever my spark goes I shall find you!" He proclaimed.

"And I you brother." I automatically replied before the vortex seemed to expand and surge forward engulfing us both even as our home world was swallowed by eternal blackness.

* * *

Death was not as I'd imagined it would be; for starters there war far too many stars and I didn't think there'd be so much solitude. I was not in the Allspark; Silverbolt was not here to greet me, not even my brother as he had promised. And then I saw him; his planet mode had long since lost whatever imposing status it once held, pieces of him were breaking off and vanishing into the abyss even as he approached.

"Black Arachnia; how ironic that you of all should succeed in slaying Shokaract, I had hoped for a Vehicon." He stated his booming voice shaking the very core of my being; that at least had not lost any edge over the eons.

"I am to be punished then; typical, Primus could care less about my desires and needs." I muttered crossing my arms over my chest and feeling the tears fighting to come out again, these Technorganic forms weren't my favorite; the level of humanity we Cybertronians approached with them was sickening

"There, there now." Unicron spoke his gentle tone and comforting nature far more disturbing then if he'd been speaking normally. "It will not do to have my future herald suffering such a great loss."

"Herald!" I exclaimed backing away in fear; only to remember too late there was no place to run to.

"Of course my dear Black Arachnia." He began his voice taking on a darker edge. "Those who kill my former heralds must assume their position; it is a standard procedure that I practice… It has led me to discover the best warriors of the Multiverse are not always Decepticons." He stated sounding too much like an Earth lawyer for my liking and nothing like the harbinger of chaos. Just what had I gotten myself into? "Unfortunately I have no further time to explain all of the details; thus I will send you on your way to join my other herald… Proceed on your way to conquest." Those last words echoed in my mind even as I felt a strange pulling sensation; the next thing I knew I'd been dragged into a vortex and lost consciousness.

* * *

Iacon; ancient city of the Autobots and yet here I found myself. I'd awoken a few minutes earlier feeling rejuvenated from my recent ordeals; I climbed into a sitting position eyeing the decrepit buildings about me in fear, there was just no trace of evil within my spark anymore. I had that bad girl attitude, but after having everything taken from me when Primal first began to teach us the art of Technorganics. Well I'd buried it behind a new façade; and now here I sat on a broken down highway surrounded by the long decaying edifices of a once proud city. I was alone; I was now a herald of the darkest creature known to our kind, and I was… Dark metallic blue and orange?  
So Unicron altered my form to suit his needs; how typical, I studied my body it's curves and general structure had not been altered and my new colors did suit me a lot better. Besides the paint job though I noticed that one other alteration had apparently been done; a small covering had been added, it was placed over my spark chamber and the Decepticon sigil was imbedded upon it. My spark fell; growing heavier and I felt tears again, only this time coming from all three sets of optics.

"Oh Silverbolt; how can we ever be together now?" I wondered a sad sigh escaping my lips; I sat down onto the broken tarmac, and sat there for who knows how long mulling over my fate, at last I became too fed up with the whole thing. I decided it would do no good to feel sorry for myself; like it or not I was a Decepticon now and Decepticons did not show such weak emotions, with a quick thought I transformed. Not too surprisingly I heard the ancient sound of transformation and there was no shining light of spark energy; yes I was definitely a Decepticon now.  
As I began to walk along I had the distinct impression that someone was following me; I spun around to discover a transmetal two frilled lizard that looked quite familiar despite the garishly colored armor.

"Reptilion." I greeted my chelicerae twitching with excited hope; perhaps Unicron was not so evil or devoid of compassion if he'd sent my brother to me at least.

"Black Arachnia." He returned with a curt nod; the sadness and despair I'd noticed in his optics previously seemed to have vanished.

"Sibling you've changed again." I noted; his answering grin brought me closer to the light and joy I'd felt once, and his tongue briefly flicked out indicating my own change.

"Unicron I take it." He remarked noting my new Decepticon insignia clearly visible on my abdomen with a slight grimace.

"I was debating whether or not to go in search of someone when you got here." I admitted allowing a hint of my true emotional state out in my words; I approached him and lightly ran a leg over his back in a show of sisterly affection.

"My sensors." He suddenly remarked turning away from me; my optics followed his movements and I felt great horror as I lay sight upon the black obelisk. "I believe our next stop is in there." He added; I shivered in obvious apprehension at his words and let out a hiss, it's similarity to the alien obelisk at this distance was frightening.

"Shall we greet this newcomer?" Reptilion wondered shooting me a wide reptilian smirk.

"Lead the way dear brother." I returned indicating the long stretch of highway before us; and so we began to travel along in silence, perhaps all of the answers to this mystery would present themselves.

* * *

As I stood before this representation of evil my spark pulsated in fear; despite the vast difference between this obelisk and the alien device I'd long ago interfaced with, a part of me couldn't help, but feel reminded of those events. As well as the feelings of power that came with it; this place was scary in another way though, it was far too pristine and well kept. Even the interiors; this place gave off the distinct impression of sterility that only a construct kept up by drones could have, it left me aching for the desolate wasteland we'd left outside. Reptilion led us onto a turbo lift and it deposited us at the fifteenth level; I noticed that it could go higher still, but this must have been the floor where the command center was located.  
I shared a curious look with Reptilion once the doors opened; we were being herded by the master of this place, but we pushed onward. I was amazed at the complexity of this control room; there were monitors and cables running all over the place and the main console was blocked by the form of a giant command chair, whoever was sitting in there had to be the size of a true Decepticon.

"Greetings Reptilion, Black Arachnia I see Unicron saw fit to bestow upon my personage two extraordinary units for my lieutenants." A dark toned voice stated as the chair slowly turned to face us. "After all not many can claim to have bested two of the Chaos Bringers' heralds." He added with a small knowing smile; I couldn't believe my optics now that the lights were bright enough to see him by, Tigerhawk sat before us, but he was much bigger. And he was purple, black and red with a green Maximal emblem on his chest, but he had to be a Decepticon.

"Tigerhawk?" I gasped in shock finally allowing my emotions to play out.

"Negative Ms. Arachnia; I merely resemble the Maximal you knew, I am Razorclaw the leader of this new Decepticon army." He returned with another slight smile.

"An army of three." Reptilion pointed out.

"For the moment." Razorclaw began rising to his feet and clasping his hands behind his back as he regarded a bank of monitors; standing he was even larger then I'd thought and he proved more imposing as well. "But Unicron has assured me that more Decepticons shall join us as time and situations permit; we shall become the conquerors of the entire Multiverse."

"Setting his sights a little high isn't he." I muttered aside to Reptilion; it certainly seemed grandiose of Razorclaw to assume that we could conquer the entirety of creation.

"Not if Unicron is truly behind everything." Reptilion returned; the alarms began to blare before I could offer a counter to his remark.

"Ah the Autobots have arrived; shall we go to meet our chosen adversaries." Razorclaw suggested assuming his massive beast mode; he circled above us briefly before glancing down with a dark smile.

"Decepticons follow me to Victory!" He cried; his voice echoing amongst the confines of the room and nearly deafening me.

* * *

I leapt from Razorclaws' back in beast mode sizing up our Autobot opponents; there was a technorganic black, yellow, red, orange and purple lion, a maroon, green and yellow gorilla with a red and silver marking on his head that had to be Optimus Primal and… My spark quickened at the familiar sight before me; Razorclaw and Primal began a conversation as I traced every part of his body with my pedipalps, so as not to be noticed.  
His coloring was off; he was mostly purple now with neon green highlights and a handsome red, silver marking on his back similar to Primals'. When he looked at me I caught a hint of pain in his optics and I knew this Silverbolt was not mine; the pain there was one of lost love on a deeper level then if we'd just been on opposite sides, but I had to know.

"Silverbolt." I exclaimed interrupting the silence between Primal and Razorclaw; he nodded in acknowledgement feathers bristling, and I knew then of the extent of his pain. Like me it had been recent; I longed to hold him in my arms, to be held by him, but Razorclaws' dark voice snapped me back to reality.

"Enough of this benign waste of time." He snapped landing beside us and briefly glaring at me out of the corner of one optic. "Let the very battle for the ultimate prize commence this day, Decepticons Transform and Attack!"

"Autobots! Take them down." Primal countered; as all six of us transformed and paired off, Primal and Razorclaw in the sky, Silverbolt and Reptilion to my far right and the lion with me. At first all I did was block his weapons' swings; the scimitar was easy to avoid, but as the Autobot continued to swing at me with no sign of relenting I knew I had no choice. It was time to take the plunge; time to erect a new façade until I could find a way out of this, smirking openly I launched a web-shuriken at the lion disarming him. Then I unleashed a blast of energy; only to realize that it would have not much of an effect on a fellow technorganic. He shook off the attack and assumed a fighters' pose; I recognized it instantly and took up a similar stance, he dashed in hard and fast with a karate chop.  
I caught his arm in my left hand and jammed the right into his solar plexus; he grunted slightly and spun free connecting a blow to my waist with his left foot. I stifled a moan of pain and performed a roundhouse; only to feel my extended leg trapped by his arm, he twirled me into the air, but I managed to come down on my hands and scissor kicked him across the face. He reeled back slightly before leaping in again; our arms and legs flashed through a series of attacks and counter attacks, I could sense that he was indeed a master martial artist just as I was. Finally he had my arms pinned at my side and he was too close for a conventional attack; so I executed a butterfly kick, which freed me and left us both open to resume the dance.

"Autobots' fall back!" Primal ordered; the lion jolted a little before he dashed to his fallen weapon, retrieved it and transformed following orders swiftly. I caught sight of Silverbolts' parting shot and wondered if Reptilion was hurt; I quickly raced over to his location and let down the façade briefly.

"Need a hand brother?" I asked grinning openly after seeing him dangling from his tail-hair; it was pretty funny looking seeing him with such a long head of hair compared to me; even if it was his beast mode tail.

"If you can spare one." He quipped; his clubs vanishing instantly; I covered a smile and reached down clasping his outstretched hand.

"They shall think twice before returning to Iacon for another confrontation I think." Razorclaw remarked as he joined the both of us; he was in beast mode again pruning his feathers, most likely to hide the extent of his injuries.

"The war has begun." I stated calmly.

"Not just a war sister." Reptilion countered. "This is to be the ultimate clash and the possibilities are… Limitless."

"Indeed Reptilion, but we shall be ready for whatever pathetic personages Primus chooses to send our way." Razorclaw stated.

"And whatever Unicron chooses for us." I added surprising myself. "Decepticons; at least some of them can be notorious traitors after all."

"Indeed fair widow." Razorclaw intoned eyeing me with a knowing look; I turned from them watching as the Autobots continued to grow further distant on the horizon. I vowed never to forget the truth; and I knew I wound find a way to be happy again, even if that was not my Silverbolt I felt I could console him. Just as I selfishly wished that he could do the same for me; for now though, for now I was in the lions' den and I would have to play the game. I would be a Decepticon until the day I could lay aside my current ties and return to where I truly belonged; the day I could call myself Autobot with pride… Or perhaps merely adopt another façade to expand my ever growing collection; either way I would be free of Unicrons' control, that I promised myself.

The Beginning

* * *

**Interesting yes? No? I'm curious to know what people might think of this odd take on the Transformers; next update look forward to the Autobot side of the equation as we discover how Optimus Primal feels and reacts to his new role as leader of the Autobots.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes:** It's been far too long since updating this; and I must apologize for that, but with few reviews and much more work to be done on my other projects interest in this waned. Yet it is still strong; there are many characters to play with throughout the course of this story and I love the entire plot I've laid out so far for the series. I see that I still get a lot of hits on this story and I can't help, but wonder if the readers are turned off by it or not? Anyway; as promised, you've read the Decepticons, now here's the very first conflict of the Universe war from the perspective of the Autobots.

* * *

We were falling; my nemesis and I, his cry still echoing about the cavernous chasm leading directly to the heart of Cybertron, its organic core and yet I was not afraid of what was to come. I told him to prepare for our destiny and then I connected with the core of Cybertron and opened up to the power of the Oracle; there was a great light, he resisted only a small amount perhaps sensing that this was truly the only option left for us and then… Darkness. That is all I could remember before finding myself here at this point; hovering in my technorganic body within a void of stars, or at least what could have been stars. In front of me was the Oracle; at least at first, but then it changed, it became a yellow sphere of interlocking circuitry tightly packed, it was Vector Sigma the super computer that gave the Autobots and Decepticons life. And then it changed again metamorphosing into a small blue crystal which pulsated with light; an object I had never before lain eyes upon, the Autobot symbol of leadership.

"The Matrix." I whispered in reverent awe; a soft voice chuckled and the jewel seemingly approached me.

"Not exactly; I merely chose this form because of its' natural ties to me, I am Primus." He revealed; I let out a gasp, I hadn't been a very large follower of religion in my younger days, but even then I knew the rarity in which our benevolent creator chose to speak with individual Transformers. He chuckled once again; perhaps reading my thoughts and then in a brilliant flash I discovered myself floating above Cybertron, but one seemingly devoid of life and decimated by disaster.

"Must I forever be kept from the Allspark and eternal rest?" I wondered surmising that I was to be asked to undertake a new task for the God of all Transformers.

"I am afraid so, for this one last task I promise; I need you. Optimus Primal." Primus returned sympathy clear in his tone; I sighed deeply and turned from observing this strange Cybertron regarding the jeweled Matrix of Leadership with strong though reluctant acceptance in my optics.

"What task?" I inquired sensing that perhaps this would become the greatest challenge I might ever be asked to face.

"I will show you." He replied and my journey towards knowledge began…

* * *

Unlike his counterpart, Primus had no need to contact his alternates; a meeting was as unnecessary between them as it would have been for any other grouping of deities. Primus, that is any version of him; was constantly in touch with the others via inter-reality mind link a sort of psychic collective of knowledge. Since Primus in most realities lay dormant in order to remain hidden from Unicron's senses; it was easy to maintain this link, as opposed to if he were fully active in each universe. Despite the boasting of Unicron to his counterparts Primus was well aware of the multitude of plans and final ploys that the Chaos God intended to enact upon fully; as such he was in the process of erecting countermeasures to said ploys, while he spoke to Primal other versions culled a group of warriors from the multiverse and prepared them to be transported to this reality so that he could begin the process needed to prevent the balance's destruction. Primus thought of calling one other to his side, but unfortunately events disconnected from his own prevented this; destiny was after all something that could never be argued with or countered, lest the very balance of the multiverse crumble into chaotic ash. 

"Still; there may yet be a hand for him to play in the future." He mused silently to himself before returning to the here and now; the Universe conflict would soon begin, and Primal needed to be briefed on all the eventual developments.

* * *

Optimus Primal

I don't exactly know when it happened, but some time during the exposition filled trip my perceptions changed; my body had been reverted to my original organic form, only the colors seemed to have been rearranged. Now I found myself a mixture of mostly maroon and yellow with green serving to break up the color combination at key intervals.

"I've changed." I stated more for the sake of striking up a conversation in the oppressive silence of this limbo; it wasn't as stress relieving as communion with the Oracle.

"It was necessary due to the nature of your opponent I will require you at your peak. I am afraid a Technorganic would not stand much of a chance against this foe." Primus admitted with a sigh of regret; I nodded briefly and further examined my familiar superstructure, it made perfect sense if what I'd learned of my new nemesis proved true I could definitely use the edge. Suddenly I noticed the Autobot insignia engraved on my shoulder, it was the only thing different besides the coloring; a part of me felt a swelling of great pride at wearing the respected symbol of my ancestors. And yet another part of me felt extremely daunted, I was expected to lead an army of Autobots against the vast forces of Unicron; something that I felt truly should belong to someone who had always been a Prime.  
Suddenly amidst the silence a strange buzzing sound was heard and without warning six individuals sprang forth around me; Primus let out a sigh.

"They're early." He whispered too low for the others to hear; the six Autobots surrounded me eyeing me curiously.

"You think he brought us here Slammer?" The shortest unit who had a massive wingspan on his back asked.

"Don't think so Swoop." Slammer replied; Swoop and Slammer, those sounded suspiciously like Dinobot names.

"Are these my warriors?" I wondered addressing Primus; he laughed briefly and I'd imagine he'd be shaking his head if he had one.

"The Dinobots are part of an entirely different though no less connected mission; despite what I've told you Unicron still possesses many contingency plans." He replied with a small sigh. "A few of which have been put into motion; you needn't concern yourself with it, it's time. Your men are enroute." He stated; I was amazed that he'd spoken to them without my knowledge seeing as how I hadn't left his side once, a shimmering red vortex opened beneath me.  
"You shall find them in the ruins of this Cybertron's Polyhex; farewell and good luck Optimus Primal." With those last parting words I was gone; on my way to protect all of existence from a fate worse than obliteration, it would definitely not be easy.

* * *

I was deposited on the outskirts of Polyhex; what served as a vast wasteland that span a great many miles, transforming into robot mode I activated my jump jets and began the painstaking process of finding my soldiers. It took me a good three hours of searching before I finally spotted them; at least they had managed to find each other, but of course with a tracker like Silverbolt that was to be expected. They were holding some sort of conversation as I drew nearer; I couldn't exactly make out the words from this altitude, but once they noticed me I clearly heard Snarl call me by name. 

"Greetings Snarl, Silverbolt I'm glad I found you first." I stated as I gently landed in front of them and out of old habit reverted to beast mode; it would take some getting used to, hearing the old transform sound in relation to my body; whatever Primus had done had truly made us Autobots.

"First." Snarl repeated; definitely a perceptive fellow for a former Maximal of his caliber. "Should we be worried?"

"Not really, you two were chosen to become my first teammates in this new conflict, so I shouldn't be surprised that I would be allowed to locate you before our adversaries." I explained choosing to avoid wasting time with the exposition; after spending hours being force fed knowledge by Primus, I was a little on the dissatisfied side… I was feeling a little edgy too; as though part of me wanted combat, desperately, perhaps a side effect of reformatting Cybertron in conjunction with Megatron.  
"Primus has made a bargain with Unicron; each has agreed that their constant striving to defeat the other has caused extensive damage to the very fabric of reality." I continued a part of me feeling a sour taste inside my beast mode's mouth; humans experienced this sort of thing a lot when they knew they were lying, but the truth of the matter was far more complicated then I wished to reveal at this time. "They have both come to the conclusion that any further acts on their part could destroy everything including themselves. Thus they have contrived this new game; Autobots and Decepticons will be gleaned from every reality and our armies pitted against one another." I concluded; it was a strange idea, but then again Primus and Unicron were somewhat mysterious in their goals. Perhaps in order to maintain the balance; the existence of multiple versions of each was still necessary for the duration of the Universe conflict, as Primus had dubbed it.

"So we wind up fighting their battle for them and whichever side wins the other forfeits their life or something?" Snarl blurted; I acknowledged his observation with a nod and the technorganic lion let out a sigh of distaste. "Wonderful I so enjoy being a pawn." He muttered; well I expected this of one of them, personally I'd been a pawn since discovering the Oracle and part of me was used to it, even if I had acted strangely out of character at the time from my years spent battling the Beast Wars.

"Primus has said we shall find a home in the city; though he did not specify I assume its Iacon." I stated a part of me seeming to grow deceptive as the urge to fight overpowered my senses; Megatron's influence perhaps, could our sparks have somehow merged during the reformatting? A question to ask Primus if I ever again saw him; still I was interested in gauging these soldiers's ability to fight. "I suggest we settle in and finish our conversation later." I further suggested; both of them seemed to detect my discomfort though probably misjudged the cause of it, if Megatron and I had indeed become one then his essence could conceivably cause future harm to this conflict.

* * *

I was deeply affected by the sight of Iacon when we arrived; it was worse then finding my version empty and devoid of life, save for the Vehicon drones at least that one had the potential to be repopulated. This one was incapable of receiving a similar boon; especially since it was destined to become the headquarters for the Decepticons, a fact I'd kept from my soldiers.  
Speaking of which; right on time as always, Reptilion and Black Arachnia leapt from Razorclaws' back and assumed positions opposite my own team, each one picking an opponent. I eyed the hovering form of Razorclaw wondering partially what exactly I should expect of this new and dangerous opponent. 

"Ah Optimus Primal." He greeted in a rather cheery mood; definitely a confident leader, perhaps overconfident.

"Razorclaw." I returned with a curt nod; insult against insult as the saying goes.

"What was it your old adversary once said?" Razorclaw wondered tilting his head in thought; I felt further discomfort as the quote came readily to mind along with a flash of sudden outrage, or perhaps mutual disgust. The more I thought about it the more I feared Megatron was indeed a part of me now; after all I had said we were to be reformatted, but in what way could I have possibly suspected that our sparks might merge in the process. "Ah yes." He exclaimed suddenly breaking me from my inner demons. "You will forgive any paraphrasing of course… Across the Multiverse it has all boiled down to this; tooth to tooth, claw to claw… Yesssss." He finished adopting a dark smirk; yet again I felt an odd stirring of emotions and thoughts, a part of me had been so close to mentioning that word myself upon our first face to face encounter, but now was no longer time to concern myself with possibilities.

"Silverbolt." I heard Black Arachnia exclaim; though I spared her not even a glance as my knuckles slightly clenched in anticipation of battle.

"Enough of this benign waste of time." Razorclaw snapped clearly disgusted with the show of emotion his female lieutenant was displaying. "Let the very battle for the ultimate prize commence this day, Decepticons Transform and Attack!" He bellowed.

"Autobots! Take them down." I countered my jaw set firmly as I prepared for battle mentally and physically; assuming robot mode I took to the air just as Razorclaw also transformed into his impressively sized robot mode. He dwarfed me considerably; his body having always been scaled as a Decepticon, but I was undaunted in my task.  
His wings swept forward and twin missiles flew forth; so much like the late Tigerhawk in functionality, it was slightly off-putting, but I was also in my element now and I returned his weapons fire in kind. Razorclaw dove through the very center of the blast generated by our impacting volleys gatling guns firing; to no avail of course seeing as how I wasn't about to stay a conveniently stationary target for the Decepticon, more missiles streaked in upon my foe, but did precious little damage as he dodged them and fired the cannon attached to his right hand. A burst of plasma energies streaked across my back searing some of the fake fur situated there; his attack proved surprisingly less effective then I'd thought it'd be as I barely felt the stinging blow, perhaps Primus had improved upon my bodies armor when he reverted me to this form.  
My opponents next assault consisted of twin rockets launched from dual weapons ports, which he'd removed from his back; his attack was meant to destroy my jump jets, however I was considerably more maneuverable then my larger opponent and effortlessly dodged the assault. Removing one of his wing missiles he triggered some sort of elongation device resulting in the shaft growing long enough to be held by both hands; now he was wielding a spear, and so I felt obliged to return the favor if he so wished to venture forth into physical combat.  
Removing my twin scythe like blades from their resting place I brandished them in a semi-theatrical display of prowess; the curved blades had served me well during the Beast Wars and I knew they would not disappoint in this conflict. We charged at the exact same time and collided; my arms shuddered under the force of the impact of blade against spear shaft, Razorclaw grinned wickedly and spun his spear around jabbing the bladed end at my chest. Luckily I managed to catch the edge of his spear on one of my blades and turned it aside; he bashed the butt of the spear into my shoulder eliciting a grimace of slight pain from me, his next attack was one of treacherous deviousness as he instead blasted me point blank with one of his rocket launchers resulting in my swords tumbling from the air. I popped my left wrists' twin launcher open and returned the favor; my missiles impacted cleanly blowing his weapon apart and also damaging the decorative windshield on his shoulder. The right launcher opened and slid back into a panel as I summoned a weapon that I had no recollection of ever owning; yet I seemed to know instinctively how it operated, and also that it was there. As evidenced by the flashy display as I brandished this skull headed mace with flourish; once again I briefly became concerned of Megatron's influence upon me, if that really was what it was. I grinned as I bashed the mace's head into his chest cracking his armor and revealing the hidden Decepticon sigil; he proceeded to skewer me onto the bladed end of his spear, but I managed to easily slide free of it and charged my adversary again. He caught the mace by wrapping the chain around his spear's shaft; what some might consider a rookie mistake as I managed to easily disarm him sending the weapon sailing off across the battlefield, then I bashed him once again in his weakened chest armor and promptly stowed the mace back in its' compartment.

"Hand to hand; how quaint." He mocked diving at me hard and fast; his left connected with my head causing me to spin around in the air. _Ok; so he's got muscle._ I observed as he shot me a smirk only to be surprised by my sudden reversal of fortune; his helmet casing cracked slightly from my blow, my next punch collided with his fist unfortunately he got the better end of the deal on that one as my whole arm felt like fire was coursing through it.

"_So Primal; you still rely on your foolish ideals? How repulsing._" A voice remarked bringing me up short as I recognized it for who it was; my fears were justified then, **he** was inside of me, a part of me. "_Oh yesssss; the reformatting of Cybertron did indeed merge our sparks, but when Primus called you I'm afraid you got soul command of our body; at least for the moment._" He mocked.

"Autobots' fall back!" I ordered aloud backing away quickly from Razorclaw; I had to deal with this before anything could go wrong, but just how was the question?

* * *

"So where's our real base and what's the big deal?" Snarl demanded as we left Iacon behind my thoughts uneasy; for Megatron had seemingly grown silent, he was indeed highly perceptive. 

"Cybertropolis." I replied feeling a sudden sensation of dread and nausea at the prospect; after all Megatron had used the citadel as a base of operations, he would be more readily capable of unlocking all its' secrets, if he ever gained control of our body that is. "As for the big deal…I merely felt we needed to better understand who we were up against." I covered knowing now that Megatron must have been influencing me due to his rage and perhaps desire for combat; they remained thankfully silent as I continued to contemplate my dilemma, how could Primus have chosen me knowing full well that Megatron was now a part of me. And why was it that I was in complete control; a separate entity, if our sparks had truly merged then we should have become one, as Tigatron and Airazor did when they became Tigerhawk.  
Perhaps the reformatting process had been flawed; or more likely our sparks had resisted the complete mingling because not only were we bitter rivals, but we were inherently both male. Either way; my tenure as leader of the Autobots wasn't going to be as simple as I thought it would be, then again I doubted even without this problem it would have been simple.

* * *

"Was it wise to keep Megatron with Primal?" Rodimus Prime wondered as he turned to the past leaders of the Autobots; Sentinel Prime smiled, but said nothing and Optimus Prime's optics glinted with bemusement for in death many secrets of the living world became known to all. 

"Optimus Primal and Megatron are one now; their sparks merged during the reformatting of Cybertron despite the fact that they were rivals on a cosmic scale." Optimus stated. "If he is to combat the forces of Unicron he will need to overcome his weaknesses and only Megatron can truly help him in this regard." He added.

"But what if Megatron attempts to overtake his physical form and upset the balance of this conflict?" One of the other Primes asked; Rodimus did not yet know his name, for there were many and it was hard to keep track of them all.

"Megatron can try." Sentinel Prime returned. "But he will discover that should he succeed he shall suffer from limited capabilities; considering he still retains a hated beast mode." He added with a bemused smirk; Optimus Prime and several others chuckled at the comment, Rodimus however was not entirely amused. Still; the older Prime's did have a point; Optimus Primal was a far cry from Autobot leadership abilities, after all he'd only been a ships' captain and a scientist at that, he was no warrior despite his competence in the Beast Wars and then the conflict with the Vehicons.

"Is Unicron aware of this?" One of the others suddenly asked; Rodimus nodded in response to that question, obviously Unicron would have to know about this little development.

"I would imagine Unicron is more amused then anything else by this turn of events; he probably believes that it will only help him in the long run, but he will discover that there is far more danger from having two sparks opposing him then simply one." Sentinel Prime stated assuredly; the dead leaders of the past watched as the Autobots continued their trek to Cybertropilis in silence, the Universe conflict was only just beginning and Optimus Primal would go through many more trials and changes before its ultimate conclusion.

The Beginning **What do ya think? Good or bad, let me know; be kind and R&R.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes:** I meant to update this sooner, but real life got in the way; now though we come to the fifth installment of The Beginning as it has unofficialy become known as... I promise once we get past this first hurdle the stories will be more action oriented and won't be so repetitive in certain respects. The Transformers Universe will soon be picking up speed; and can anyone slow it down then? Heh, heh, heh... Anyway up next Silverbolt's POV followed later in the week by Snarl's and then **NEW RECRUITS**!

* * *

Her cry echoed amongst the canyon walls; a cry of great pain that snapped me from my sudden inexplicable blood lust. I stared in shock at the brutalized form of Noctorro as he lay, mech fluid pooling from his body; his optics were lifeless. I had killed another Maximal; for the first time I found myself coming full circle, but I could not deal with the consequences of my actions just yet I had to find my dark angel.  
Leaping into the air I quickly flew across the distance between my former location and her last known one; as I arrived I felt my spark leap up into my throat as I caught sight of her and my own cry tore across the canyon shattering the lingering remains of her own.

"Black Arachnia!" I quickly landed and knelt beside her; she was barely conscious her spider modes' limbs littered the ground and her own robotic ones had been twisted by a fall from a great height. Her arms were folded over her chest each claw desperately attempting to hold her spark inside her body in a futile gesture of survival. But that was merely a delay reflex action; it was obvious to me that she was no longer alive as evidenced by the great gaping hole that went straight through her chest and out her back.  
"No." I exclaimed clenching both fists in rage as her optics slowly faded despite there already being no life left behind them; I felt the darkness slowly creep up upon me alongside it the strong desire for vengeance. "Who did this?" I demanded of the heavens.

"Who do you think rover." A silent voice replied mocking me; three units emerged from the growing shadows their leader smiling.

"Tell me!" I screamed; reacting with such well honed reflexes and speed that I had her clutched in my grip and dangling from the ground before she could defend herself. "Speak quickly Skyshadow lest you wish to keep your head." I hissed.

"It was fossil face." She gasped; my optics narrowed switching from yellow to red even as my voice took on a decidedly different tone, though I remained unaware of this.

"Megatron." I cursed.

Silverbolt

The once mighty space faring vessel sat partially buried beneath the magma its' soul surviving wing reaching up into the gathering dusk. The dark red glow of the molten rock lit up the plain light black armor as the transmetalized Tyrannosaurus Rex flew back to base. Twin red optics followed his approach as the strange alligator, snapping turtle fusion observed his former master.

"We really should talk 'Bolt out of this." The twitching lizard, praying mantis fusion muttered in her sing-song tone.

"He's got his mind bent on revenge for the she-spider." Terragator countered in his rich bass tone; he sighed as he caught sight of their fellow fuzors assuming position.

"How'd he talk those unaffiliated into joining us?" Buzzclaw wondered scratching her antenna with one of her pincers.

"Airhammers' a loose cannon and Torca never could stand Noctorro; they figure they owe him one for killing the Maximal." Terragator explained as a string of static flashed over their comn channels.

"The signal." Buzzclaw groaned.

"No turning back." Terragator sighed as Torca began the charge. The massive killer whale, elephant fusion slammed past the meager defense cannons as his hammerhead shark, falcon partner swooped out of the shadows and shredded the remaining cannons perched on the ship. Terragator hunched his shoulders and waddled towards the entrance, Buzzclaw hot on his heels; the familiar drone of a wasps wings was heard as three defenders emerged.  
Transmetal Terrorsaur and Waspinator charged the Maximal fuzors while Tarantulas opened fire from the cover of the entranceway; having not undergone the transmetal process he took to cowering behind his supped up comrades more so than usual. Airhammer assumed robot mode and opened fire on Waspinator while Torca unleashed a torrent from his circuit dousing cannon; Terragator transformed mid-run and opened fire on Tarantulas as Buzzclaw switched to her robotic form and took to the air.

* * *

I watched the others as they fought valiantly; I couldn't really trust Torca or Airhammer, their motives for severing all Maximal ties was in question. But at least Buzzclaw and Terragator could be counted on; Skyshadow approached as I witnessed the spectacle before me a strange concern in her optics. I ignored the anguishing expression and unfurled my wings.

"Just give me cover." I growled taking off before she could say anything. I circled the ship skirting the skirmish and slipped through one of the ever growing hull breaches Megatron had never deemed to repair. When you're slowly sinking into a pool of molten rock it probably wasn't high on the priorities list after all; I swept through the corridors swiftly my concentration and focus all centered on one goal, reaching Megatron. I arrived at his throne room to find him comfortably waiting a sweet smile on his face and a bemused glint in his optics.

"Ah the avenging lover how predictable, yesssss." He stated causing me to grit my teeth in anger.

"You will perish for what you have done to me and mine." I stated assuming robot mode.

"I hardly believe you capable of defeating me Silverbolt, nooooo." He countered the expression on his face hardly changing; I could not believe his presumptuousness.

"That's where your opinions' and fact greatly differ Megatron." I retorted readying my wings for the first strike as my optics flickered once more to red and my vocal patterns changed. "I'm afraid your situation exactly matches your location." I continued smirking with triumph at the look of surprise that finally crossed over his features. "Terminal!" My wings sped forward and twin missiles flew faster than even I thought possible; their course proved straight and true and Megatron was blasted from his command chair to come crashing face first to the deck. He growled at me and sung his tail-cannon sending me crashing into the far wall; my own fault for getting to close, I returned fire once more keeping up a steady stream of missile fire so he couldn't join me in the air.  
He however wasn't so easily swayed; as his twin machine gun forearms situated on his shoulders blew my missiles out of the air he secretly charged his cannon to full power. The crackling hum finally broke through my battle haze and I rolled as he raised his cannon and unleashed a blast. The shot went wide shattering open one of the bulkheads; the distant fire of the battle outside could now be heard, as I continued to pepper him with missiles I swiftly prepared twin blades. His next assault involved a combination of smaller cannon fire and a kick intended to send me sprawling to the deadly pit below no doubt. Instead I managed to dodge his weapons fire and drove in under his guard cutting a large swath over his armor with one of my blades; though failing to penetrate the thick armor plating. He slammed me to the ground now that I was close enough and attempted to crush me with one of his feet; I gritted my teeth with my exertion, but I managed to flip him over the side of the circular platform and quickly spun unleashing another hoard of missile fire to counter his renewed machine gun fire. He now floated through the air on his VTOL engines relying on those annoying machine guns for his primary offense as he circled me.  
Instead of remaining a target as he had foolishly done I returned to the air myself; I charged as a bolt of lightning aiming to damage his flight systems, he managed to block my clumsy advance and battered me aside into one of the protruding energy conduits. A massive burst of energy singed my back marring the pristine pelt of my beast mode; I shot off into the air to resume our battle ignoring the pain I had to end this between us, he had to pay for my beloved's death.

* * *

Airhammer let out a whoop of cheer as Terrorsaur tumbled into stasis colliding with Waspinator as he plunged from the sky; Tarantulas was now left to face four fuzors on his own and like the coward he was he began to back away.  
Suddenly a mad cackle exploded from the entranceway and massive rockets slammed into Airhammer shredding his wings to pieces. When he slammed into the ground he was still alive, but the twin augers that burst up out of the ground soon put an end to that as the deranged Scavenger also joined the defense. The brutal Rampage emerged from the vessel a dark glint in his optics as Scavenger shifted into robot mode; Terragator yelped in terror as Torca blindly charged the crustacean. Buzzclaw knew it was hopeless to continue the battle and chose to flee rather than fight; grabbing her friend by the arm she rocketed off into the sky confident that none could follow them. Suddenly Scavenger rose into view a demented gleam in his optics as Buzzclaw was forced to cease flight or risk colliding with his augers.

"The Royalty commands your destruction!" He cried slowly approaching.

"Primus, help me." Buzzclaw whispered the fear in her optics giving way to desperation she couldn't die like this. Without warning a shock of energy coursed across Scavengers' body and he tumbled out of the air raving as he fell, she glanced around in wonderment, but never saw her rescuer. Quickly dashing away across the night sky she prayed that Skyshadow and Silverbolt would be all right. Scavenger crashed into the ground as his body continued to twitch, he looked up at his attacker and his optics widened in surprise.

"Y-y-you…" He tried to continue speaking, but a quick burst from the weapon silenced him for ever.

"Wazzzzzpinator like lizard-bot." The transmetal Predacon simply stated without any true hint of emotion before he resumed dragging the stasis locked Terrorsaur towards the base. Meanwhile Torca was digging into Rampage with his tusks; the crazed behemoth merely chuckled at this meager assault and severed the fuzors head; reaching down his neck he dug out the spark and crushed it in his merciless grip. Tarantulas suppressed a shudder and turned to observe Waspinators' return; suddenly a large explosion tore out of the ship and all optics turned to observe this phenomenon in surprise.

* * *

A large explosion shook the ship as the central computer terminal detonated under heavy artillery; Megatron was sent screaming through the hull while I skidded along the corridors until I came to a halt outside facing two transmetals and one seriously disturbed arachnid alone.

"Such pain; how delicious." Rampage remarked rubbing his hands together in glee and quickly assuming beast mode; Tarantulas slowly began to back away as I climbed back to my feet, Waspinator appeared indifferent. I ignored the sparking injuries I'd sustained during my fight with Megatron and launched more missiles at Rampage; one of them however jammed within the mechanism and detonated shredding my wing. I shrugged off the pain and rolled claiming Torca's discarded weapon; using it on Rampage I derived some satisfaction as his entire body froze up circuits sparking, unfortunately it wouldn't keep him down for long.  
Turning to the other two I wondered what to expect; my goal was Megatron and I continued to feel myself drawn to him wondering where he'd disappeared, my answer came in the form of a familiar shadow rising up behind me. I whirled to face the T-Rex just in time to feel the sharp sting of his tail across my chest and I went down, hard. Struggling back to my knees I feebly attempted to use my lone missile launcher only for it to fail with a whine of servos as it refused to operate.

"A futile attempt at avenging the spider, yesssss." Megatron stated with contempt. "Now you can join her, in the pit." He proclaimed; he resumed robot mode and his cannon roared blowing me off of the ground and up into the air. I felt myself weightlessness for a few moments before I began to feel the deadly plunge, my body slammed not into the ground as I had thought, but into the magma pool. I had been blasted clear over the edge; as my entire body began to sink inexorably to it's' end I could feel the super hot liquid tearing into my very circuits through the chinks in my armor. I had never known such agony as this, I screamed in pain as my optics happened to fall on the blurry image of Megatron. He stood above me on the lip of the crater-like pool his evil smirk of triumph driving my soul to renewed rage.  
But as I continued to sink a small smile crept across my own features eliciting a look of consternation to appear upon his; with my last ounce of strength I revealed the final surprise. Opening the storage receptacle in my chest with great pain I revealed the small Energon box within; I'd grabbed it from his side during our initial struggle, his optics widened in sudden fear as the magma pooled about me entering the recess and causing the crystals within to detonate. As I felt my own spark chambers defenses at last give way and oblivion drew neigh I felt extreme satisfaction as the dark form of Rampage at last free of his bondage now loomed above Megatron, having recovered swiftly as I knew he would.

* * *

"NO!" The voice screamed out; Skyshadow turned from her own observations and shuddered in fear, she saw Waspinator grab Terrorsaur and escape into the air and Tarantulas scamper off as fast as his legs could carry them.

"What have you done Silverbolt?" She wondered her own spark sensing the fear, how could anyone survive Rampage now that he was his own master once more. Glancing briefly at Quickstrike she wondered if she should get him to a CR tank or let him die never knowing the horror now unleashed upon Earth. "Our war is no longer important." She finally decided grasping the smaller fuzor in her claw with a gentle almost motherly care. "Primal must know of this, we will need to prepare a defense." She added before taking to the sky.

* * *

My spark felt the strangeness of it all as I floated within the ether that was our version of an afterlife; a great golden warmth spread through my very soul and great shame overwhelmed me for what I had done. I had let loose the beast from his cage and in doing so jeopardized everyone even those I did not wish to see dead, no wonder I did not feel the presence of any others here, I was to receive punishment for my crime.

"Black Arachnia!" I cried hoping against all hope I would be reunited with her.

"She is not here Silverbolt." A deep though gentle voice responded startling me; a large golden orb appeared before me to be replaced by a smaller glowing blue crystal.

"Then I am to be punished." I stated resigned to my fate.

"In a way yes." The voice returned a vast sorrow and deep regret evident in his tone. "Because of your actions you must redeem yourself, which is why you have been called."

"What possible use could I serve now? How could I ever face my friends again knowing that I was the cause of such misery?" I demanded ignoring the strange twinkling laughter I suddenly heard.

"You can serve as you have done in the past for you are truly a noble soul despite what you have done." The crystal responded with a deep resonating sigh. "Proceed now on your way to a higher calling." It added before I felt a great exertion upon my spark and I was torn from his presence; I did not know my destination, but a part of me wished fervently to be returned somehow to where I'd just been so I could make amends for my actions, but it was not to be.

* * *

Optics opened to a sky both familiar and yet alien to me; a large dull yellow sun was slowly rising from the east and I no longer felt without corporeal form, my conscious thoughts and reflexes resulted in my rising to my feet and I found myself in a vast wasteland. Perhaps I had been sent to the Pit after all and that strange vision had been just that; some form of transitory delusion cooked up by my guilt-ridden psyche.  
Glancing down at my body I expected to see a mere exoskeletal frame to mark me in death for what I had done; instead I was shocked to discover an identical form to my true body. The only difference was the fact that I was completely purple; with only a few stray markings of neon green accentuations running along my arms and legs in certain areas, a truly unflattering combination. What was I to do now? I wondered as I continued my self-examination; now as I studied the new form I noticed the odd extra armor plating situated over my spark chamber, the ancient red faced symbol of the Autobots rested proudly there. Though I felt no pride; my shame grew as I stared into the eyes of the noble marking, how could such a dark soul as I had become, be chosen to join the ranks of such heroic ancestors? And yet here I stood in a wasteland not of my own making; at least I fervently hoped not, in a body identical to my original save for its' apparent affiliation.  
Well I might as well take advantage of this time to get the lay of the land; so to speak, with a simple and quick mental command I assumed beast mode accompanied by the distinctive and long forgotten transformation sounds of the Autobots, I guess this really is an Autobot body. Digging my talons into the ground and pushing off with my hind paws I spiraled up into the air; using my enhanced sense of smell I detected a faint trail, the spoor of another beast and I chose to follow it suspecting he or she would have answers to my questions.  
I circled the area as I followed the trail to get a better understanding of my surroundings; the area didn't look any more inviting from the air. The half decayed wrecks of transports; constructs, once living Cybertronians and even a mostly intact rust colored shuttle all seemed to tell a story of death and decay. This Cybertron must have fallen to some disaster; perhaps the dreaded cosmic rust disease. Suddenly I caught a hint of movement out of the corner of my eye and the scent I'd been following grew more defined; switching the angle of my wings I performed a slow lazy descent trusting my senses to warn me of possible attack.  
I landed amongst stray power rectifiers, a few small one-man craft and what appeared to have once been a warehouse. Twin optics shone in the darkness of the shadows surprising me with how organic looking they appeared; a low growl rose up from this hidden being and I offered a friendly smile.

"Your scent is strange to me, but I suspect that like me you are an Autobot lest you would have attacked me by now." I now stated waiting patiently for a reply.

"You'd be correct in that assumption." The unknown returned with a slight nod; he emerged into the light revealing a mostly black lion with red, purple, yellow and flaming orange serving as highlights. "So, how'd you get that dual beast form?" He wondered circling me as he examined my fused form.

"My stasis pod was badly damaged and it scrambled the beast mode adaptation process; I am commonly known as a Fuzor." I explained examining this new unit in turn; his form appeared to be a complete blend of technological aspects and organic aspects, a technorganic if you will.

"Snarl." He stated with a gruff inflection in his tone.

"Silverbolt." I returned with a brief lowering of my head. "I don't suppose you know why Primus brought us here?" I inquired.

"I haven't a clue." He replied with a shrug; suddenly a new scent flowed alongside a sudden breeze and the tell tale sound of jump jets could be detected. Looking up I caught sight of a very familiar form; though his maroon, yellow and green colors threw me off considerably. "Optimus Primal." Snarl exclaimed as he too now saw the approaching form of our apparently former commander; I suspected strongly however that neither of us had this particular version of Optimus Primal as our commander. Though there was the distinct possibility that he had led doppelgangers of us.

"Greetings Snarl, Silverbolt I'm glad I found you first." Primal stated as he landed before us and assumed beast form. His gorilla form revealed a strange splash of red on his head, which served no visible purpose that I could determine.

"First." Snarl repeated catching on to the implications in Primals' tone. "Should we be worried?"

"Not really, you two were chosen to become my first teammates in this new conflict, so I shouldn't be surprised that I would be allowed to locate you before our adversaries." He explained; his words clarified the why of the matter, partially, but that still failed to explain what Primus needed us for. "Primus has made a bargain with Unicron; each has agreed that their constant striving to defeat the other has caused extensive damage to the very fabric of reality." He continued drawing my attention immediately; this was deeper then I had previously thought. "They have both come to the conclusion that any further acts on their part could destroy everything including themselves. Thus they have contrived this new game; Autobots and Decepticons will be gleaned from every reality and our armies pitted against one another." He concluded.

"So we wind up fighting their battle for them and whichever side wins the other forfeits their life or something?" Snarl blurted; Primal nodded and the Technorganic lion sighed. "Wonderful I so enjoy being a pawn." He muttered.

"Primus has said we shall find a home in the city; though he did not specify I assume its Iacon." Primal stated. "I suggest we go settle in and finish our conversation later." He elaborated his tone however carried with it a strange hint of something, I couldn't place my finger on it, but it sent a jolt of apprehension through my circuits.

* * *

The city of Iacon had seen better days in fact as we entered the outskirts I couldn't see any building that would serve as a base. The city could not be called that anymore; its buildings had long since exchanged their pristine condition for that of ruins. Snarl froze catching sight of something and I turned from examining the construct to his left and looked upon three creatures. The one who landed across from me was a large brown armored frilled lizard with green and purple highlights; hovering in the air beside him was a massive fusion of tiger and hawk; purple and black in color with red intermixed at certain intervals. To his left, facing Snarl was a dark blue and orange black widow spider with a strange splash of purple on her abdomen; my spark pulsated at a rapid pace, despite her allegiance and her obviously technorganic form this was my beloved it had to be.

"Ah Optimus Primal." The massive flyer stated in a deep baritone.

"Razorclaw." Primal returned with a curt nod; this startled me beyond words, did Primal know this beast as he apparently knew Primal? Or was it possible that Primus in his wisdom chose to bestow ultimate knowledge upon Primal for the sake of being a better equipped commander?

"What was it your old adversary once said?" Razorclaw wondered tilting his head in thought; I was finding myself drawn to Black Arachnia unwittingly wondering if she too had lost her true love. "Ah yes." He suddenly exclaimed bringing me back to the here and now, his optics were twinkling with amusement. "You will forgive any paraphrasing of course… Across the Multiverse it has all boiled down to this; tooth to tooth, claw to claw… Yesssss." Primal exhibited slight shock and extreme rage in his facial expression at these words and I suspected Razorclaw possessed similar knowledge as Primal, which in turn answered my previous question.

"Silverbolt." She called to me in that oh so familiar inflection; her words caused my feathers to bristle and I chose to merely nod incapable of trusting myself to speak anything clearly.

"Enough of this benign waste of time." Razorclaw suddenly snapped choosing to land beside his fellow Decepticons; for that was what they must have been. "Let the very battle for the ultimate prize commence this day, Decepticons Transform and Attack!" He cried.

"Autobots! Take them down." Primal countered; it dawned on me as we all transformed that Primal must have wanted us here, to test ourselves against the Decepticons. Snarl charged my beloveds' doppelganger and Primal began the battle against Razorclaw leaving me to deal with the unknown lizard unit.

We charged; twin beams of energy streaked from his spark and coalesced into the forms of battle clubs, I readied twin blades of my own and threw my writhing thoughts aside for another less inconvenient time. My blades came down hard and fast; he managed to block them however with his clubs the impact tearing through our arm joints with conflicting energies. A small smile spread across his features as I felt myself bare my fangs at him and swung a second time; he dodged vanishing beneath my blades' arc and I felt the sudden imbalance as something connected with my legs.  
I tumbled onto my back only to roll swiftly back to one knee and crossed both blades as his battle clubs came crashing down attempting to bash my cerebral circuitry in. I strained managing to push him back as I regained my footing; he lashed out with his right foot catching me across the midriff with great force. I felt the claws on his toes tear into my armor briefly before I found myself careening through the air; I heard more then felt the sudden connection with an old window frame, which soon gave way to great pain as the glass-like substance tore into certain areas of my body shredding a few lesser circuits and wires.  
I connected with the floor of this building and skidded a good distance from my entrance point before managing to halt my momentum; and leapt quickly to my feet firing off twin missiles just as he in turn arrived intending no doubt to take me unawares. He was knocked backwards as he landed and tripped over a jutting piece of debris giving me the opportunity to charge him; hoping to take him by surprise. His weapon turned my blade aside at the last possible instant causing a jolt to shudder up my arm under the force of impact; together we became a vicious blur. Our moves were always countered or parried and as I continued to feel every slam of blade against club I began to experience a strange feeling of déjà vu. We moved as we fought going from interior to exterior and out onto one of the myriad highways of the city; our impacting weapons and occasional grunts were drowned out only by the explosions generated by Primal's and Razorclaw's struggle. The lengthening shadows of the buildings told me that the sun was beginning to sink and yet I would not yield to this unknown upstart who seemed to recognize me and yet I had never once met him.

"You fight well." He acknowledged speaking for the first time as weapons crossed and our faces met scant inches across.

"As do you." I returned forcing him back with a mighty heave; he bent low yet again attempting an uppercut. With a quick thought and a smirk of pleasure I turned his move against him by taking flight briefly to perform a swift aerial spin ending with my foot colliding with his face. He collided with a curse sending both clubs my way; explosions rocked me and I was forced to maneuver to one side, apparently they weren't mere melee weapons as I had believed. Now that I could see clearly I slowly circled the sly lizard who had regenerated his weapons; he in turn circled me searching for an opening, just as I was; each of us eyeing the other awaiting the assault that would renew our conflict.

"Autobots' fall back!" Primal suddenly ordered; I was understandably shocked, why would he ever give ground?

"Another time perhaps." The lizard mocked; I shifted to beast mode with an audible growl not wishing to disobey Primals' orders. But I could not let it go with that; so as I banked to follow the others I fired a parting shot pleased to see him sail off the roadway albeit not far as his tail latched onto the railing.

"So where's our real base and what's the big deal?" Snarl demanded as I joined the duo; apparently I was not the only one to reach the same conclusion concerning Primals' motives.

"Cybertropilis." Primal replied. "As for the big deal… I merely felt we needed to better understand who we were up against." He added; I would have said something, but now that the battle was over I once again felt myself drawn to thoughts of the Black Arachnia under Razorclaws' command. She was not mine; yet a part of me felt there could be no difference, perhaps this is what Primus meant, perhaps it was my duty to free her from bondage to Unicron. Only time could truly tell what was to occur; though I knew that if I could not be with my own love I could perhaps at least grant solace to another's love.

The Beginning

**Two down, one to go; and once we've finished the POV-fest of the first ever battle in the Transformers Universe conflict it'll start picking up I believe, Autobots and Decepticons will come charging in without so much as a by your leave and before you know it this will truly be a WAR! Join us next time to learn what Snarl thinks of all this, and do please be kind; R&R.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes:** Tah dah we're finished; with this chapter The Beginning is over and the War has only just begun, there won't be any rhyme or reason to the formula in which future chapters will be presented. Some of them will be introductions to the new cast members others will be more story based with the new character introduced to the reader, but already a full fledged member of the team, Autobot or Decepticon. Hope you'll enjoy them all, but for now here's Snarl the last of the initial three Autobots and his POV.

* * *

I twisted the Vehicon limb into place and pulled back from the computer; this old hunk of junk better work now with that makeshift power converter. Inputting the activation code I waited intensely as it began to hum with power; the ancient screen came online almost at once, but it was filled with static. I sighed, it would have to do until Rattrap got back from the supply run, wiping the mech-fluid from my hands I turned to our makeshift CR Tank. That was when my alarm system went off; racing over to the old land line communication console I slapped the receiving switch, the familiar face of Gekobot appeared on screen.

"Snarl we've got a situation here, Skydive, Night Viper and I are pinned down in Torn Sector, we need back up." He reported; my spark raced at his words, but how could I help? No choice in the matter, Primal, Rattrap and Cheetor were still on the supply run and Black Arachnia, Nightscream and Unicorn were busy in the orchard.

"I'll be right there so hold tight." I stated; Primus we needed more help, oh well we'd free more sparks eventually. Shifting to beast mode I leapt atop the old battle chariot I'd fixed up and with a simple verbal command we were off.

Snarl

Torn Sector was one big death trap if you weren't careful; half the place was built up by storage facilities and containers, mostly filled with highly volatile chemicals, liquid Energon or unstable geo-molecular compounds. Fortunately my friends weren't anywhere near those areas; I saw them near the Vehicon construction plant and a part of me instinctively assumed hunter mode, the perks of having a lion for a beast mode. Even though technically the female of the species did all the hunting; none of the drones were active though, which could mean only one thing.

"Cyclonus." I growled as the massive Vehicon came into view; Skydive was doing his best to disarm him, but Cyclonus was a veteran combatant. Still, nothing the old fashioned element of surprise couldn't handle; oh well I could always salvage another one. I leapt from the chariot and watched as it collided with destiny; Cyclonus cursed as flames expanded from the point of impact and he lost control, I raced over to my comrades.

"Snarl." Night Viper called shooting me a relieved smile; I grinned cockily at her, who said you can't find love on Cybertron?

"We must go; now." Skydive exclaimed shifting back to beast mode Gekobot and Night Viper were quick to follow and together we raced for the nearest sewer access.

"Leaving so soon?" A new voice called out as Spy Streak landed in front of us; his claw sprang forward and caught Night Viper by her serpentine neck.

"I Am Transformed!" I cried; assuming robot mode I leapt at Spy Streak and drove my scimitar into his arm, he screamed and Night Viper was released as his arm controls were severed. She slithered after Gekobot; Skydive was about to help me when twin aerial drones appeared; Spy Streak recognized them instantly and laughed darkly.

"No escape this time." He gloated; I knew that we couldn't be captured again, there was only one option and loathed was I to enact it. Kicking Spy Streak aside I shoved Skydive into the sewers; he protested, but I had no time.

"I'm truly sorry friends; please take care of Night Viper for me." I whispered to the pteranodon, then I slammed the lid shut and raced over to the nearest containment construct; Cyclonus rounded the corner with narrowed optics his wing badly scorched and his assault drones headed directly towards the sewer access. "Not today Cyclonus." I called out bringing his attention to me; his optics widened in fear and he leapt into the air attempting escape despite his injuries, I sliced my scimitar through the weak armor casing. As I'd anticipated; pure liquid Energon, a highly volatile substance, my world became a brilliant white hot flash before I found myself fading away completely…

* * *

Weightlessness; that's what oblivion felt like, as I could see once again I discovered myself before a massive golden orb. It changed as I regarded it, into a smaller multifaceted crystal that seemed to pulsate with an inner blue light. So this was what the after life looked like; odd I'd been expecting to find all of those ancient warriors around hereabouts to welcome me among them, suddenly a deep voice boomed in laughter that felt both warm and sorrowful at the same time.

"Snarl you have been chosen; I am Primus." A voice stated from the gem; I couldn't believe what I was hearing, me a chosen?

"I'm just a scientist; a tinker of mechanical bits and pieces to be accurate, what could you possibly need me for?" I wondered incapable of accepting his words; though I knew he had to be Primus for none could deny the truth upon coming face to face, in a way, with your creator.

"All will be revealed in time, but for now… Proceed on your way to a higher calling." Primus replied; before I could question him further I found myself slipping away yet again, and then I was gone.

* * *

Where I found myself next was a nightmare, or at least a personal hell of some kind; it was Cybertron, but a Cybertron ravaged by time and devastation. Whole cities lay amongst the ruins; or at least parts of them and I recognized the ancient seat of power of the Decepticon Empire, Polyhex had been required reading for the academy. But even after the wars it had never looked this bad; running my hand over the outside of what appeared to be an old warehouse I found the alien contamination of rust here.  
It had no effect on me; this rust had to have been the ancient Cosmic Rust that could affect our way of life, but it had long since lost the contagious nature history tracks had claimed of it. It suddenly dawned on me that my hand looked slightly off; the tone had changed, glancing down at my body I found a plethora of dark colors and complimentary overtones in place of my once rich and vibrant tones. Black and red comprised most of my form; with yellow, purple and a flaming orange accentuating key areas, apparently Primus had done something. Perhaps so I would blend in better among these gloomy surroundings; I wondered if my small tools were still around, sliding up the left leg panel I discovered another new change. My spark was covered up by a plain looking panel and the old Autobot brand graced the covering; fortunately my tools were still in place. Then I picked it up; a scent on the wind, possible danger, time to hide my signature.  
Concentrating I transformed, but there was no light; only the sounds of pistons shifting, gears rearranging or panels unfolding, definitely standard accompaniment for an Autobots' transform. Slinking into the shadows of the warehouse I awaited his arrival; though I wasn't certain how I knew that he would come, though I knew from his scent that he was male. I didn't have long to wait as the strangest creature I'd ever seen appeared before the decrepit entrance and glanced around briefly before turning to me. He was a mixture; he had the basic body and hindquarters of a wolf, but the wings, talons and tail of an eagle. With a very subdued purple tone highlighted by neon green; as well as a large splash of red and silver on his back. To cover the silence and try to stem my excited curiosity from taking complete control I shot him a low growl; he returned my gesture with a friendly smile the wolf muzzle pulling back and revealing sharp canines.

"Your scent is strange to me, but I suspect that like me you are an Autobot lest you would have attacked me by now." He stated; had he just talked like that? What a curious individual indeed; perhaps he knew more then me concerning our current predicament.

"You'd be right about that stranger." I returned with a slight nod as I emerged into the light and slowly began to circle him; studying his fascinating form, a seamless blend of the two animals. "So how'd you get that dual beast form?" I wondered striking up casual conversation.

"My stasis pod was badly damaged and it scrambled the beast mode adaptation process; I am commonly known as a Fuzor." He explained taking the time to examine me; intriguing the scientific ramifications alone spoke volumes of the dangers those old pods posed; good thing we got internal DNA scanners during the quantum cycle upgrade.

"Snarl." I stated by way of introduction; something was tantalizing my olfactory circuits again, but it was very faint.

"Silverbolt." He returned briefly bowing his head; oh so he was that particular unit, Black Arachnia would have been ecstatic. "I don't suppose you know why Primus brought us here?" He inquired.

"I haven't a clue." I replied with a shrug; that's when the scent flooded my nostrils and I could make out old style jump jets, following Silverbolts' gaze I saw a very unmistakable form. With a maroon, yellow and green combination however it took me an added minute to recall just who. "Optimus Primal." I exclaimed in surprise, but how had he gotten here; or for that matter when did he revert to his old body?

"Greetings Snarl, Silverbolt I'm glad I found you first." Primal stated as he landed in front of us and returned to beast mode; perhaps he wasn't the same Primal I knew, something about his voice seemed a little off.

"First." I suddenly repeated realizing what that implied. "Should we be worried?"

"Not really, you two were chosen to become my first teammates in this new conflict." He explained; well now this was nice, getting straight to the point and all. "Primus has made a bargain with Unicron; each has agreed that their constant striving to defeat the other has caused extensive damage to the very fabric of reality." He continued; ah yes that made perfect sense for every action there must undeniably be an equal or perhaps even stronger reaction. "They have both reached the same conclusion that any further acts on their part could destroy everything, including themselves. Thus they have contrived this new game; Autobots and Decepticons will be gleaned from every reality and our armies pitted against one another." He concluded.

"So we fight their battle for them and whoever wins the other forfeits their life or something?" I blurted growing highly disturbed by the concept; Primal acknowledged my words with a nod and I let out a sigh. "Wonderful, I so enjoy being a pawn." I muttered; this was indeed going to be a great pain in the neck, I probably wouldn't get a moments peace for tinkering now.

"Primus has said we shall find a home in the city; though he did not specify I assume its Iacon." Primal stated. "I suggest we settle in and finish our conversation later." He elaborated with a strange hint of discomfort in his tone; obviously there was a different motive behind our going to Iacon, but I was prepared.

* * *

And I'd thought Polyhex was bad; nothing could compare to seeing Iacon in this state, it made my spark heavy with something, but not sorrow or despair. More like that feeling you might most associate with guilt; or perhaps nostalgic remorse, I was never one to classify my emotions openly or otherwise. Without warning three creatures suddenly appeared; I recognized Black Arachnia despite the new colors, though I knew she could not be from my universe. The other two were a complete mystery; although the massive Fuzor intrigued me openly, how could any Decepticon adopt such a unique form?

"Ah Optimus Primal." He stated in a deep baritone; his manner of speech reminded me briefly of Megatron, but his voice was just a tad too deep for that to be truth.

"Razorclaw." Primal returned with a curt nod; ah so this was the game then, well I suppose the first day of such a grandiose war must include the first battle.

"What was it your old adversary once said?" Razorclaw wondered tilting his head in thought; I took in the expressions running over everyone's faces curiously, though I was mostly interested in getting this over with. "Ah yes… You will forgive any paraphrasing… Across the Multiverse it has all boiled down to this; tooth to tooth, claw to claw… Yesssss." Primal's reaction got a rise out of Razorclaw so it would seem; the tension was swiftly mounting as Black Arachnia now shared a moment with Silverbolt, she didn't strike me as very Decepticon oriented at the moment. "Enough of this benign waste of time." Razorclaw snapped landing on the ground and sending a slight tremor along the roadway. "Let the very battle for the ultimate prize commence, Decepticons Transform and Attack!" He cried.

"Autobots! Take them down." Primal countered; despite everything he was still the same old Primal. I transformed facing Black Arachnia in the charge; I didn't really want to fight her, but I had no choice. I used my scimitar at first; our dance a swift though deadly combination as she focused solely on defense, not a very good idea. But soon she seemed to toughen up; her web-shuriken collided with my hand and sent my weapon sailing. Next she unleashed an energy attack; to little effect, we Technorganics weren't as poorly constructed as Vehicon drones and I shook it off effortlessly.  
Assuming a fighters pose I prepared to strike; she countered my move, unfortunately as I dashed in hard and fast with a simple karate chop. She caught my arm with her left and jammed my gut with her right; hardly original and I barely felt a thing, though I still grunted a little. I spun free of her grip and connected a blow to her waist with a kick from my left; she stifled a moan of pain and executed a roundhouse; I shook my head lightly at her novice blunder and caught her leg. I spun her through the air hoping to catch her off guard, no luck she recovered and performed a flawless scissor kick. I fell back at the unexpected move, but quickly recovered and leapt into the fray again; our arms and legs in fact our whole bodies were a blur of motion. We maneuvered through a series of lightning fast attacks and counter attacks; she always had been a good sparring partner.  
Eventually I trapped her, pinning her arms to her side and holding her too close to my body for her to execute any further counter moves, or so I thought. One butterfly kick later and we were yet again standing apart prepared to resume the dance of hand to hand combat; oh was she good.

"Autobots' fall back!" Primal ordered; I jolted into action at once dashing along the ground and retrieving my weapon, I transformed and swiftly managed to catch up with Primal who had been the first to break off.

"So where exactly is our real base and what's the big deal?" I demanded as Silverbolt finally caught up; he looked a little troubled.

"Cybertropolis." Primal replied; ah yes it made perfect sense, at least I would have the full supplies of the Citadel to help us fortify the place. In retrospect perhaps I could find a way to duplicate the old Sentinel program, or maybe there'd be a few battle chariots. Yes the possibilities were endless and I could hardly wait to see what I'd get to work with. "As for the big deal… I merely felt we needed to better understand who we were up against." He added; I nodded, accepting his words. There was no point in saying anything more, not with Cybertropolis patiently awaiting us; and yet I wondered what other surprises Primus or Primal might have in store for us for the near future.

The Beginning

**At last; we've finished with the initial six members of the cast, now we can begin the fun of expanding upon the cast and the story further. Next time we'll meet Obsidian & Tankor and the Decepticons will be gaining these two powerful new allies how will the Autobots handle this and who might the new Autobots be?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Notes:** Yay; now we get to see more soldiers and new stories, yep that's right brand new stories that don't necessarly have to be connected to the others so closely as the first six chapters. Today you get to meet Tankor and Obsidian the first of the Decepticon Soldiers; as it were, the first half of the story shows a glimpse into the Universe these two warriors are culled from, the second half will feature the events surrounding the Universe Conflict as Tankor & Obsidian arrive for the first time. As I said; not all stories will be introductory ones, instead you'll also get to read action packed war torn stories; and other more character centric stories... And now without further ado...

**"We Now Return to the Transformers Universe!"**

* * *

The shadow slipped into the warehouse unobserved and maneuvered past the long dead systems; it had been decades since he'd seen anything like this, stepping up to the terminal he input a few quick commands.

"Vehicon construction has been halted at this location." The computer stated in a soft feminine tone; the shadow nodded as if expecting this and put in a new command. "Maximal signatures detected." The computer stated; the shadow smiled revealing his teeth and whiskers, with a quick flick of his tail the shadow slunk into a corner of the room and opened the doorway to the access tunnels. Now there was only one option; as the late not so great Megatron once said, gamble and hope the dice rolled in his favor.

Round Up

My propellers whirled in tandem as I hovered into the trophy room; the place gave me the creeps every time. Glancing briefly to the left I spotted the heads of the fallen Transformers; boss bot had sure been tough, Megatron, Thrust, Optimus Primal and that punk hombre Nightscream. At least I'd convinced him just to remove Black Arachnia's spark; I kept her in my quarters wonderin' if I could convince her to be a Vehicon at my side. A sudden shift of movement to my left distracted me and I spun in mid-air to face the only other Vehicon that wasn't a drone, aside from boss bot that is.

"Ya tryin' ta give me a scare pardner?" I demanded glaring up at the optic sensors of Jetstorm; he was a few feet taller'en me, but it didn't matter much.

"You don't need to worry about little old me." He returned in his usual cocky manner; he hovered past me and glanced casually at the heads, their dead optics stared back even more frightening due to the looks of pure agony etched across their face. I shuddered in fear and moved past the trophy case until I was facing the special set up old boss bot had created; there was just somethin' unnatural about those heads, kind of like what happened to ol' blender butt before the Beast Wars went south fer us Preds.

"Well; anythin' to report?" I demanded of the tiny spheroid diagnostic drone that was linked directly to Vector Sigma; he regarded me briefly and shook his head.

"No sign of the surviving Maximals; I am beginning to think Cheetor is no longer active." He replied in his usual aristocratic tone; Jetstorm shoved past me with a growl causing me to collide with the wall.

"Forget about the cat, where's the vermin?" He demanded pushing me down to the ground as I rejoined him; he was a tad overzealous if you asked me, but then again ol' Silverbolt always had his problems, guess when Megabreath re-wired his logic circuits he just added more'en he bargained on.

"Get off o' me." I snapped shoving him back off; insolent jet if I wasn't Tankor's favorite he'd slag me faster then a petro-rabbit.

"The rat accessed a terminal in construction plant five seven beta last solar cycle; he has not been seen since." The drone replied ignoring our little tiff; Jetstorm shot me a rather rude gesture by human standards as several Aerodrones appeared, or as he liked ta jokingly call'em, his Sonic Attack Jets.

"Come on; we're going to check out that old plant, and with a little luck bag us some rodent tartar." He stated shifting into jet mode and turning his nose cone to eye me; I never could figure why he insisted on talkin' ta his drones, maybe he was lonely. "Have fun playing nursemaid 'Sidsy baby." He quipped before flaring his jet engines in my face and racing off.

"Arrogant little… If I didn't have to play act dumb all the time." I muttered leaving the trophy room and heading for the central command room; it had taken some getting used to when I woke up as Obsidian, Megatron had pre-programmed and upgraded my intelligence. Of course I'd played the part of the yokel just to spite him; especially since his tinkering with my spark re-woke all my old Maxi' memories, it was kind of tough though thinking without the southern drawl, I'd gotten so used to it after all.  
Of course I'd figured out Tankor as soon as I saw his little trick with the old Key to Vector Sigma program; it was my newfound intellect that managed to tweak the program so it turned organics into techno matter on Cybertron and not just Earth. One of these days ol' dog-face was going to learn just how smart I really was, and then he'd beg me to spare him the agony of my torture; of course I wouldn't.

* * *

Rattrap slipped past the derelict defense systems easily enough and entered the central complex; he eyed the darkened room curiously and began to pass the stasis chambers, finding this place hadn't been easy, but it was still intact despite the razing of Detritus province.

"Just like the Oracle said; man I'll never get used to listenin' to that creepy computer." He muttered pausing in front of a particular chamber; he could barely make out the unit sleeping inside, with a slight twitch of his nose and a chittering of sound he approached the computer. "Time to see if these sleepin' giants are still online." He added jacking his tail into the interface; a small smile played across his lips as the response came instantly, how he'd ever managed before without instant jack in capabilities he'd never understand. "Oooo yeah; now that's what I'm talkin' about, wakey, wakey Dinobreath." He whispered sending the activation signal the Oracle had given him in that twisted vision he'd gotten.

* * *

Jetstorm blew open the wall with a holler and his drones fanned out; he chuckled as they began to search for the vermin, he might not have olfactory sensors any more, but that didn't mean he couldn't sniff out his former comrade.

"Come out, come out little rat and play; I promise it won't hurt… For long." He called out in a sing songy voice; movement in the shadows of the conveyor belt caught his attention and Rattrap stepped into the light.

"All dis fer little ol' me; I'm touched 'Bolt really, but ya didn't have ta." He stated wiping a fake tear from his eye; Jetstorm eyed the Maximal uncertainly, he wasn't acting like cornered prey.

"A little cocky for one lone garbage eater." He mocked wagging one of his three fingers before targeting the rat with his wrist mounted lasers.

"He isn't alone." A new voice growled in a deep baritone; Jetstorm looked around for the speaker in confusion, suddenly his drones were attacked from the shadows all around, why Tankor hadn't bothered putting the lights back on in the cities was a question Jetstorm had to remember to ask about if he got out of here. Before he even could figure out what had happened a massive tail slammed into him and he careened into an old Energon Crystal detector, with a groan he collapsed to the floor and numerous hulking beasts joined Rattrap. The Maximal grinned as he semi-waddled up to the downed Vehicon almost as though he were strutting, so pleased with this apparent victory was he.

"You're going to regret this." Jetstorm gurgled struggling to right himself; his guidance systems were a little off.

"Just stay here and relax 'Bolt; we'll go take care of Tankor and come back fer ya after we liberate the planet." He stated patting Jetstorm on the head as he slumped slowly to the ground another grin plastered over his lips revealing his teeth.

"I'm not Silverbolt anymore." He mumbled before collapsing into stasis.

"Gotta hand it to ya, you guys are alright." Rattrap stated addressing his new ace in the hole.

"We are the last line of defense for the Council of Elders." The largest shadowy form stated stepping into the light at last revealing the mighty form of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. "They should have activated us sooner." He complained.

"What were you expectin' from the Dinobots anyway, runt." One of the others asked with a chuckle revealing a Stegosaurus.

"Eh; whatever, come on. We still got a million drones ta deal with and ol' horn head himself." Rattrap reminded leading his new allies out into Cybertrons' perpetual night.

* * *

Boss bot hadn't been where I thought he'd be, but I managed to reach his seat of power fairly quickly; boss bot had found the plans for it in Megatrons' old files and decided to build it, with a few modifications of course. The city below swarmed with drones and as usual the boss was studying one of the archaic laser cores; I just couldn't understand why he kept looking at the old relics, or where he managed to keep finding them.

"Ah Obsidian; any word on our last two Maximal problems?" He asked not deigning to even look up from his studies; I shifted positions so I was facing him and provided a report.

"Jetstorm is lookin' into another rat sighting; I can't understand how that vermin keeps eludin' us." I replied growling a little; Cheetor had been missin' for twenty solar cycles already and I really wasn't enjoying being stuck on cat patrol. Tankor seemed to acknowledge me with a grunt and moved from the throne over to his private workstation, which is when the explosions went off and a mighty roar shook the very foundations of the city, as if Megatron were back from the grave.  
"What in tarnation?" I exclaimed slipping into the role of yokel so easily; Tankor and I shared a highly confused though no less curious look, instantly one of the monitoring screens flew up from the floor and he slammed the activation switch. Normally I wasn't one to show fear, but in this case that image clearly unnerved me; he was huge, he had a mouth full of sharp teeth which were currently munching on several Vehicon body parts and he was the spitting image of Megatron's pre-transmetal bod'. Except maybe for the colors; next to him were two equally impressively sized creatures, a Triceratops gouging a line of tank drones with his horns and a Stegosaurus smashing Mirage drones with his tail.

"Interesting." He mused optic roving back and forth; his bullet-like head moved suddenly as something flashed past the tower with a shriek, I spun around in time to see my helidrones being shredded by a Pteranodon and one of those prehistoric bird things; Archaeopteryx.

"Where'd he dig up those fossils?" I blurted ducking out of the way of a strange looking feather bomb and returning fire on the crazy bird; I doubt I'd ever understand why Tankor insisted on building his personal throne and workstation on the roof of the tallest building in Cybertropilis.

"Obviously he has located the lost Dinobots; a group of Maximals so powerful it is said the Elders sealed them in stasis to keep control over them." Tankor explained moving casually over to the console; he smiled as he turned briefly back to me, a gesture that looked strange on his totally alien face, Megatron's Vehicon designs really didn't offer much in the way of conventional human-like proportions. "Once I summon every drone on the planet it will be the final key to our victory." He added reaching down to activate the caller; at the last possible second however a sharp talon cleaved into the console forcing the boss to dive out of the way.

"Not today." A raspy voice stated as a Velociraptor who looked almost identical to Dinobot's transmetal two clone emerged from the shadows Rattrap clinging for all his life to his tail, I rolled my optics, he wasn't big enough to pose a real threat. That was before his partner showed up; a massive Maximal that looked like a Duocon, only he was composed of three beast modes and probably could be called a Tricon, I literally trembled with fear, the odds didn't look in our favor.

"Ah Magmatron, Rapticon; I was wondering where the Dinobots dark cousins were keeping themselves." Tankor remarked; even he was shorter then this so called Magmatron, however the term dark cousins piqued my curiosity.

"This is the end of your reign Maximal." Magmatron stated; boss bot chuckled darkly and leveled his turret on the massive Dinobot.

"I think you have that backwards; Predacon." He retorted before opening fire; Magmatron raised some kind of shield into view and the blast ricocheted off slamming into the throne and blowing it sky high. The boss charged the Dinobot saw-blades whirring and the two began to fight hand to hand; I really didn't want to get involved, mostly because I wasn't sure what to make of this Magmatron fellow, but then again Rattrap and Rapticon were still a credible threat to be dealt with.

"I don't know where ya dug up these tin-plated prehistoric psychopaths rodent, but I'm gonna take you down." I exclaimed cringing at my own dialogue; how I relished to drop the idiots façade, but unfortunately when something becomes mundane routine it's rather difficult to let go.

"Yeah, well I'd like to see you try two-head." Rattrap shot back; what an original insult, I didn't even have two heads anymore. Targeting Rattrap first I fired my high impact bullets at him; they tore up the roof something fierce, but Rattrap managed to dodge. Next I targeted Rapticon and began cutting a wide circle of destruction through the air; at least single handedly, if the two of them bothered to give me any credit as a threat they might have been paying more attention to the floor underneath their feet. Part of the roof gave way almost before the two of them could figure out how to get in a shot my way and both of them plunged screaming to the metallic pavement far below; although the Pteranodon and Archaeopteryx probably caught them before they could actually hit bottom.

"Hold on boss I'll…" I began to call out turning back to the battling behemoths before a missile slammed into me from behind and I crashed to the roof; shaking my head to clear it I glared up expecting to find one of the Dinobot flyers, I wasn't disappointed.

"Sorry short stuff, but they have to settle it out amongst themselves." The archaeopteryx stated pointing a peashooter at the back of my head; his weapon was laughable at best, I chuckled darkly hinting at the true cunning beneath my dimwitted façade. My twin propellers began to glow and both of them launched from their resting places colliding with the Maximal and exploding in his face; he screamed in agony before slumping to the rooftop in stasis. Switching leg configurations I climbed to my feet and waited for my spark to recreate the propellers; an interesting new feature Megatron had managed to perfect thanks to his study of some odd looking Ravage clones we'd discovered in one of the old science quarters of Iacon.

"Now as I was about to do before I was so rudely interrupted." I whispered to myself turning to face Magmatron and Tankor prepared to offer backup, the Predacon Dinobot was towering above my leader in apparent triumph; I laughed coldly and peppered him with unexpected machine gun fire. He growled and the long neck on his back unfurled suddenly revealing a second beast head apart from the Allosaurus one; I'd noticed it earlier, but thought it merely decoration.  
My optics widened in shock and then it fired blasting me to the roof once more and successfully damaging my flight mechanism; Magmatron grinned wickedly as he prepared to skewer the boss, who looked like he'd seen better days. Before my very optics a missile struck the giant from behind followed; strangely enough by twin claws that jammed into his opened circuits and sliced through his chest effortlessly. Magmatron toppled forward face first dead before he hit the rooftop; standing where he had moments earlier was a transmetal two that looked strangely familiar. Almost like Cheetor; except this one was black and gold and his face was twisted into a very uncharacteristic sneer.

"A pity he would have made an excellent soldier." He remarked in a strangely familiar Russian-like accent moving swiftly over to the boss and examining him. "Already in stasis; perfect." He muttered.

"Ravage?" I demanded weakly. "Where did ya come from kitty-cat?" I added trying vainly to get back up; instead I toppled backwards locking my propellers up, _great now I have to find a repair tank before I can fly again_.

"Hello Obsidian; or should I say Quickstrike." Ravage mused with a slight smirk. "I have been sent to select two warriors for my masters' army; I suppose you'll just have to do as the second since Jetstorm is rather indisposed at the moment." He added with a sigh.

"Hey." I growled preparing to blast him for the cheap shot; nobody mocked my skills and got away with it, but Ravage ignored me and slapped some strange triangular beacon onto my chest. Next he tapped something on his right wrist and with a blinding flash a humongous vortex of blue and gold energies swirled open above the tower; Tankor was lifted off the roof first by strange glowing purple tendrils that seemed to burn his superstructure. Then I felt the stinging pain as the tendrils pulled me up; I tried to scream, to fire, to do anything, but it was like I'd been frozen or somethin'. As I passed slowly into the vortex I caught sight of the drones tumbling where they stood or hovered, deactive; apparently the Maximals managed to win after all.

* * *

Reptilion leapt out of the line of fire for the tenth time and hurled a battle club missile back at Silverbolt; he shouldn't have tried to take on the Fuzor, especially with Primal nearby. Without warning another assault from Primal destroyed his cover and he grimaced clutching his battle clubs and ready to go down fighting; and lo a swirling vortex tore asunder the sky slowly depositing two strange Cybertronians, the first of the new guard had arrived.

"Wha?" Primal exclaimed holding off from attacking; Silverbolt appeared just as confused, though Reptilion doubted they were expecting this unlike Razorclaw who had seemingly known. The hulking yellow and green unit snapped back online first and looked around in surprise; until his lone optic fell upon Primal and something akin to recognition was almost visible in his expression.

The shorter blue and grey unit came to life with a yell and leapt into the air looking around wildly as if expecting to see something or perhaps someone.

"Boss bot; ah why'd ya change paint jobs?" He wondered hovering directly in front of the larger unit's face as he suddenly seemed to notice the change in appearance.

"Move aside." The other one snapped bashing the apparent fool out of the air and taking one massive step forward, this unit might even rival Razorclaw for sheer size compared to the rest of Unicrons warriors. "Primal; I don't know how, but this must be your doing. You'll pay for robbing me of my victory!" He bellowed before the turret over his right shoulder locked into a firing position and began to pepper the area with mighty bursts of energy.

"Silverbolt; you tin horned toad, how'd you get that body back?" The shorter unit demanded as his fingers seemed to retract into his hands. "And who dyed your fur that ugly color?" He added with a chuckle opening fire with a hail of machine gun bullets; Silverbolt and Primal were now on the defensive as they rushed to find cover and Reptilion smirked as he slowly caught his breath.

"What did we do to those two and why does one of them sound like Quickstrike?" Silverbolt asked Primal as he reloaded his wing launchers; Primal shrugged readying his own weapons.

"They think we're somebody else." He reminded taking a moment to determine each attackers locations; his optics flickered strangely as he regarded the large tank unit, but he decided it would be best to withdraw considering the tactical disadvantage they were at. "I suggest we regroup back at the citadel." He stated looking like he wanted to add something on the end of that sentence. "Allow these three colorful individuals to get acquainted." He finished stowing the one sword he'd pulled out earlier; Silverbolt nodded and reverted to beast mode, as one they took to the air and rocketed off leaving the Decepticons behind.

* * *

I stopped firing after they were out of range and turned to Tankor in confusion; when we'd first regained consciousness I was a little out of it, forgot what had happened before finding myself here, wherever here was. Still; why were our paint jobs different and what exactly happened to Ravage?

"Obsidian where are we?" He demanded turning his full fury on me; he grabbed me in one hand and dragged me to eye level.

"I don't rightly know boss, but some new transmetal two version of Ravage said he needed us to join some army." I replied wonderin' if the boss would fly into a rage; he seemed pretty upset when I said that, but suddenly his optic locked onto my back and he released me in apparent confusion.

"When did you get that?" He wondered his rage now quickly replaced with open curiosity.

"What?" I wondered myself flailing my head around in an attempt to see, but it made me look like a comical boob and I quickly stopped eyeing the boss expectantly.

"Your spark chamber has received advanced armor plating and you now have a Decepticon emblem." He explained his voice now becoming impatient; my optics widened in shock and I made a slight shrugging motion.

"Standard package when you get drafted into Unicrons' army." A new voice spoke up as a rather short looking transmetal two lizard made his presence known; he was barely a head taller then me and as I watched him his weapons seemed to fade away until they vanished completely, his coloring looked worse then Silverbolt's new dye job if that were possible. "You probably have one too; we're all Decepticons now under the glorious service of Unicron." He added in a clearly sarcastic tone; then it hit me just what exactly he was saying and I landed in front of him glaring directly into his optics.

"What do ya mean service of Unicron?" I demanded feeling the overwhelming urge to blast him right there; the boss was quiet, contemplative as he looked out over the desolate section of planet before us.

"Just what it implies rotors." He snapped poking me in the chest with one of his sharp clawed fingers. "Unicron's plucking us all out of our home realities to build an army; Primus's doing the same with the Autobots, whichever side wins gets to rule the multiverse." He explained still glaring into my own narrowed optics; I didn't like the sound of what he was sayin', but it made a certain kind of sense.

"And who leads this army?" Tankor demanded. "Megatron I suppose."

"No; Unicron and Primus specifically stipulated no matrix bearers would lead, so no Megatron could lead the Decepticons." The lizard based Decepticon replied with a slight though audible sigh of relief. "A very powerful Decepticon by the name of Razorclaw is our leader; my sister and I are his lieutenants, which leaves you to be the first grunts I suppose." He added eyeing us both with a smirk; I bristled at that and would have said somethin' if the boss hadn't shoved me aside bending down to look the puny shrimp in the eyes.

"I am nobody's grunt." He stated darkly his turret glowing with unleashed energy.

"You're part of something a lot bigger now; so you better get used to following orders." He shot back his left optic whirring slightly as it spun in its' socket; he and the boss stood like that for a long time until the boss finally straightened up allowing his weapon to go silent and cool down.

"I am Tankor and this is Obsidian." He stated introducin' us to the beastie; he acknowledged that with a slight nod and reverted to his beast mode, a frilled lizard of some kind, perhaps an Iguana.

"Reptilion." He returned. "Come on we'd better get the meeting over with." He added heading off towards what appeared to be a massive city in the distance.

"And so we shall meet Razorclaw." Tankor muttered aside to me; I nodded and returned to the air moving up to his head's eye level.

"I suppose this means I have to keep acting the hick." I surmised with a tired sigh; it wasn't easy keeping my true personality on such a short leash, especially in this Vehicon body.

"Rather astute of you Obsidian." Tankor returned with an approximated grin. "Now come let us not keep this Razorclaw waiting." He added converting for the first time in ages into his vehicular form; I regarded him curiously as I noted the odd patterns of purple that reminded me of the energy tendrils which had dragged us into the vortex. Reverting to helicopter mode alongside him I discovered a secret thrill as I heard the ancient yet no less thrilling sounds of the original transformation method our ancestors had used, Decepticons we were indeed.

"I think I'm goin' ta enjoy bein' a Decepticon." I stated as we moved off to catch up with Reptilion; yes it certainly did have its' advantages, activation codes were long since archaic to my way of thinking we Transformers weren't meant to waste valuable combat time with them.

* * *

I can honestly say that I have never once seen a base of operations as disturbing as the obelisk Reptilion led us to; it had to be over thirty stories tall and was smoother then an injection manifold, Tankor appeared quite impressed, but the place gave me the heebie jeebies as the sayin' went. When Reptilion led us into the central command room we both received a substantial shock; Tankor had always been the largest to my way of thinkin' even bigger'en Megatron, but this Razorclaw person. He had to be the biggest Transformer I'd ever set eyes upon; and I'd seen my ancestors aboard the Ark once, and when I found out who Reptilion's sister was I was equally surprised.

"Sugar-bot." I greeted happily; it was always good to see her even if she'd never really liked me.

"Oh no." She moaned when she heard my voice; I would have smiled if I had a mouth, if my act could fool her it could fool Razorclaw.

"Good to see ya again too." I mocked letting my tone grow a little colder towards her.

"Welcome Tankor, Obsidian; how good of Unicron to select such valuable assets for the team as yourselves, the Autobots have no hope against such heavily armed and armored warriors." Razorclaw stated; I could tell this one liked to hear himself talk, probably more'en Megatron, and something about his voice really bugged me, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly why.

"Until Primus' reinforcements show up." Black Arachnia muttered uncrossing her arms as she stalked closer to us.

"A given sister." Reptilion returned with a slight nod; turning to Razorclaw he proposed a question. "Do we attack now then?"

"Sadly no; Cybertropolis is still shielded until the two new Autobots arrive, his idea of keeping the contest fair." Razorclaw sighed and turned his command chair to face one bank of the many monitors surrounding the room.

"Play fair; in a war?" Black Arachnia repeated incredulously.

"If our ancestors had fought this way it would have been very dull." Reptilion added mockingly; Tankor shifted his position absorbing all of this new information greedily, already plotting most likely.

"It is only until both sides forces have grown substantially." Razorclaw informed with a slight glint in his optics. "Then all bets are off and new reinforcements won't be arriving in such a… Predetermined manner." He elaborated; well that certainly sounded like something Unicron might concoct, then again my history on the individual in question was sorely lacking.

"So where do we all bunk?" I wondered eyeing Black Arachnia expectantly; Razorclaw chuckled at the look of unease on the femmebots' face and shot me a bemused look.

"Reptilion shall show you to quarters, but expect a call to arms shortly." He replied knowingly; Tankor nodded and made his way back to the turbo lift and I rushed to keep up, I did not want to get lost in here.

"Interesting aren't they." I mused careful to keep my voice low.

"Quite." He returned with a nod; as Reptilion joined us I began to think this wouldn't be so bad, sure we had to obey the orders of that overgrown… Snake, but we had played the part of compliant warriors before; it'd only be a matter of time until we could make our move. And then Tankor would be in and Razorclaw would be the first of a new trophy room; it was the way he operated and I liked it, at least with Tankor in charge you knew where you stood, on top and with a whole mess o' power.

To Be Continued

**What do ya think of our new Decepticons huh? Please R&R.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Notes: **Despite a seeming total lack of interest in this series of stories I continue to work with it; it takes me a while to finish up a chapter though considering I don't have much motivation to do so, but fear not gentle reader I shall continued to post this even if it goes slow and steady.  
And now; without further ado... The next chapter.

* * *

The Allspark is vast; it's existence is legendary for it is here that every Autobot, Decepticon, Maximal, Predacon, Vehicon, Cybertron and Destron eventually wind up. It consists of many levels; the Inferno is reserved for those Transformers who are too twisted by evil to ever warrant resurrection or rebirth, the Pit is the section more widely referred to. It is here Decepticons, Predacons, Vehicons and Destrons remain until their sparks are chosen once more and reborn into new bodies with completely different personalities from their previous life.  
The Matrix is where the Autobots, Maximals and Cybertrons exist in peace; often those who prove themselves may enter the highest level of the Matrix, which is called the Zodiac. This is also sometimes called the Hall of Heroes or Valhalla; lesser Autobot sparks may visit with their friends there, but are not allowed to remain indefinitely. On rare instances a warrior from the side of evil may also become a valiant hero and enter the Zodiac; examples being the Predacon Dinobot and the Destronger Gelshark, but it does not occur often.  
There are of course two sections that remain separate from all others; disconnected and left for those sparks who have affiliated themselves with Unicron, or where those with aberrant sparks exist. The Void; a cosmic death trap for any sparks unfortunate enough to wind up there, for here Unicron keeps his slaves and uses them to create his heralds. And Limbo; currently only two sparks share this existence, the dreaded Decepticon Starscream and Rampage otherwise known as Protoform X. This story begins in the Matrix; where two sparks are about to be chosen for the greatest of all missions, they will be restored and enter the service of the great God Primus so that they may join the ranks of the Autobots currently located on Cybertron One Thousand Three Hundred, home of what has become known as… **The Universe Conflict**.

* * *

I don't exactly know when it happened or how, but one minute we were blissfully discussing events on Cybertron and the next Inferno and I were no longer a part of the Allspark. I found myself back in my old body; looking at a multifaceted crystal glowing with a blue light, Inferno was beside me in his own body as well looking around in obvious confusion. The crystal radiated a sense of calmness however; so I wasn't too worried.

"Ratchet, Inferno I must apologize for tearing you from the Allspark, but your services are needed once again." The Crystal spoke in a gentle caring tone; Inferno eyed me curiously and asked why we were needed, I had a feeling this crystal whatever it was could perfectly understand his sign language. "Unicron and I have begun a great war; Autobot and Decepticon fighting for the very sake of everything…" The crystal paused an' a deep sigh seemed to reverberate from it; he must be really torn up about it. "I regret that it has come to this, but our own struggle has lasted for countless eons across multiple realities and we have caused irreparable damage." He explained; I began to get a sense of the scope of this problem, Inferno glanced to me before expressing his sympathies.

"Yeah Inferno's right; if it's for such a grand and noble cause how can we refuse?" I demanded a smile revealed in my optics; after all both of our cranial designs lacked the conventional human mouth, the crystal unleashed a hearty laugh and a beam of light shot out passing through a golden hued vortex that now existed behind us.

"You will arrive directly at Autobot Command, and you should be aware that you're the first genuine Autobots to join the ranks. So don't be surprised if you find yourself taller then your commander." He stated with a good natured chuckle; then we were on our way to fight the good fight once again and protect the very fabric of reality while doing it, it felt good to have a purpose again to be honest.

Reborn

Autobot central command proved to be a large circular structure judging by the interior design; Inferno and I landed on the floor of a large chamber where a few sets of furniture, some computer consoles and a massive monitor stood. A very short black, purple, red, yellow and orange unit looked up in surprise at our sudden arrival; he stood about the height of a Micromaster in relation to us, but one of the larger representations of that diminutive faction. He appeared to possess an organic based transform and his body was technorganic in nature; much like the pretenders had tried to emulate.

"That was quick." He muttered as Inferno began to study every nook and cranny of the place.

"Expectin' us I take it." I observed with a wry chuckle; the Autobot beast nodded and turned back to his monitor.

"Primal isn't back yet from his mission; so you two can get settled in the Autobot scaled section." He informed pointing to one of the branching entranceways that seemed to litter this level; Inferno took that as a dismissal and made his way over, I hung back briefly to ask the guy a simple question.

"Where's the repair bay?" I demanded getting a little gruff.

"Through that way." He returned absently waving towards an entrance on the far right. "You can check it out later." He added before he let out a growl and began yanking off the panelings on his console muttering about defective circuit pathways. This one reminded me of Hoist; I shook my head and made my way out deciding to find suitable living quarters.

* * *

After finding an appropriate place to hang my hat; so to speak I made my way around the Citadel, it was quite an impressive building. But parts of it seemed to have been replaced with other constructs; some of the sections didn't match aesthetic wise and one whole level near the lower sections seemed to have been left out. And yet everything fit together seamlessly; Primus must have gleaned the building and its' sections from every possible reality, when I returned to the central chamber I found Inferno sitting in front of the large monitor studying a schematic of the place. Trust Inferno not to use his eyes or waste time with a self-made tour; with a shake of my head I took a seat on the Autobot sized sofa, as the humans might call it. 

"Greetings Ratchet I am Optimus Primal." A short maroon, yellow and green robot introduced approaching me from the nearest entrance. "I believe you already met Snarl; this is Silverbolt." He added indicating a mostly purple winged Autobot; I nodded in greeting before turning to eye Inferno.

"How longs' he been like that?" I wondered curiously.

"Since you left; he came back a couple of minutes later and just started studying." Snarl replied; I nodded as if expecting that and returned my attention to Primal.

"So you're in charge huh? I suppose you've had a hard time of it since I don't see any medics among you." I observed with a gruff inflection in my tone; climbing back to my feet I decided it was high time I checked out that repair bay. Primal and Silverbolt shot each other a knowing look and both fell into step with me as we headed towards the entrance to the repair bay.

"We don't need a medic." Silverbolt stated. "Our bodies are designed with self-repair systems and if necessary we can use a circuit regeneration tank to assist the process." He elaborated; I nodded accepting his words, most of the Micromasters had, had similar though far less sophisticated systems.

"But eventually you'll need one; this is a war after all." I returned with a grunt; Primal nodded sagely and Silverbolt seemed a little more subdued all of a sudden.

"That is why Primus gave us the repair bay." Primal stated; Silverbolt chose to agree with a nod and then glanced up at me curiously.

"So you're the resident medic huh?" He remarked with a slight smile. 'That would make Inferno what, your bodyguard?"

"He and I were part of the Machine Robot Rescue team back on our Cybertron; he was usually head of security." I replied just as we reached our destination; my optics widened in awe at the equipment in the room, there were several repair tables, a few of those CR Chambers Silverbolt had mentioned and loads of high quality equipment. I headed over to the storage area and began opening a few drawers; I'd never seen such a full stock of repair tools before, there were arc welders, hydro spanners, duotronic stabilizers, circuit boards and cyber-forceps… The list went on; I would have smiled if I could, without warning an alarm klaxon went off and Primal clenched a fist as Silverbolt gritted his teeth.

"Apparently the Decepticons want to see who our new recruits are and test them out." He observed; Primal nodded with a sigh and glanced up at me.

"Ready to meet our adversaries?" He asked.

"Not really; I'm not much of a fighter, but if we're under attack I suppose I've got no choice." I returned with my own sigh; we headed off towards the main entrance to the citadel, unsurprisingly Inferno was already waiting for us weapon in hand.

"Eager to fight I see." Silverbolt remarked; Inferno shook his head and joined us as we left the citadel, three units awaited us, a yellow and green tank, a metallic blue and grey helicopter and a copper toned lizard with purple and green garishly lavished on. Each one transformed and Inferno took a step back in surprise when he saw how tall the tank unit was.

"Lookie here boss, we got ourselves competition this time." The helicopter remarked with a laugh; the lizard glowered at the helicopter, but quickly centered on Silverbolt.

"We have a score to settle you and I." He stated generating weapons directly from his spark chamber.

"That's handy." I muttered taking my laser scalpel from its' perch on my back and sliding it into the slot above my right wrist, which supplied the power. Primal activated some sort of flight propulsion system and took to the air twin launchers popping out of his wrists; Silverbolt charged the lizard and the two began to fight close-quarters combat, Primal targeted the helicopter, which left the tank for Inferno and me.  
Inferno signaled a strategy in rapid fire succession knowing I'd pick it up easily; with a nod I dove left while he went right; the tank growled and flipped his turret over his shoulder, centered it on me obviously intent on taking me out since we were closer in height, he probably perceived me to be the stronger of our team, which proved a big mistake. Inferno ducked under his arm and fired point blank; the missiles cracked his chest armor and tank unit tumbled backwards. He cursed under his breath and focused on Inferno; grabbing him by the arm he hauled him to eye level.

"Impressive." He remarked before a panel on his free arm slid open and a saw slid out spinning viciously; I fired this time knowing that as weapons went mine was pretty weak. It served its' purpose though; tank boy turned to me with a glare and Inferno took the opportunity to kick him across the chest breaking free of his grip.

"Stand back." Snarls' voice broke in via comm line; I looked around for the technorganic, but couldn't spot him. "Initiating Sentry Program." He stated; instantly several panels slid open and the defense batteries flew out opening fire on the Decepticons.

"Hey; that ain't fair." The helicopter complained; the tank growled as he covered his face to protect it and slowly backed away.

"This is new." The lizard observed flipping out of the line of fire; he transformed back to beast mode and raced off. Helicopter and tank were quick to follow; Primal landed next to me and smiled openly.

"Looks like the new defense systems work, hey Snarl." He stated.

"If we had that what was the point of coming out here?" I wondered annoyedly.

"It's the first time we used the Sentry system; it might have blown out and then the Decepticons would have gotten in." Silverbolt explained; I shrugged slightly at Inferno's remark and turned to go back inside. "Why doesn't Inferno talk?" Silverbolt asked curiously as we returned to the Citadel's central command.

"I replaced his vocals with extra sensor packets; he's very dedicated to his security job." I replied; Silverbolt eyed Inferno with a show of respect.

"I admire your commitment to duty." He stated; I turned off then heading back to fully familiarize myself with the repair bay, I had a feeling every battle would not go so well.

* * *

"Well that was a big disappointment." Obsidian grumbled as he hovered out of the repair chamber; the lengths he had to go to, to keep up this stupid charade sickened him at times. 

"Perhaps." Tankor returned glaring at Reptilion; the transmetal two ignored the look as he continued to input commands. "But it did alert us to those new defenses."

"Ya think?" Obsidian shot back leaving the repair bay to go do whatever it was he did.

"Touchy isn't he." Reptilion observed hiding his smile; Tankor growled low in his throat and took his own leave back to his lab.

"Those two are going to be trouble." Black Arachnia remarked slowly lowering herself on her webbing; Reptilion nodded slamming the deactivation switch, whatever he'd been working on vanished instantly.

"And it seems they aren't the only ones; so what are you doing playing lovey dovey with Razorclaw?" He demanded turning to glare at his sister; she transformed to robot mode and sighed.

"It's not important; I just decided to take a different approach compared to how I handled Megatron." She returned her head lowered to hide the expression on her face; Reptilion shook his head and reached up to squeeze her shoulder.

"I know you too well little bit; you hate doing it, playing this game." He whispered; she sighed again and surprised him by wrapping him in a hug.

"Thanks brother; you have no idea how hard it is keeping up the façade." She whispered; he glanced around nervously and sighed in relief now that he was sure no one was around.

* * *

Razorclaw smiled before switching off the feed from that particular camera; she wouldn't betray the Decepticons, she had no chance of surviving if she did, but still she wasn't much of a Decepticon. 

"I'll have to try and curb her more Autobot tendencies." He mused with another sly smile.

To Be Continued?

**New Autobots and a new defense grid, what might happen next?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Notes:** I haven't updated this in a long time; so engrossed with other matters as I have been, I appologize for anyone enjoying this story despite a seeming lack of interest, anyway allow me to add this next sadly short chapter, not all of them can be uber long I'm afraid besides this is an all encompassing tale that unravels the Universe conflict from the perspective of its' warriors, I doubt all of them would share as much of their feelings to the audience as it were. **Chuckles.**

* * *

I remember nothing before the training; my life has always been for combat, my master has given me many gifts. I have bested many opponents on the battlefield; however this last opponent has proven quite the challenge. The purple Decepticon fired his arm cannon shredding my wing; I let out an inaudible grunt of pain and shifted back to robot mode, locking on with my missiles I let fly. They impacted on his armor and exploded shredding through his circuits; his lone optic blinked and he stumbled to one knee clutching his injuries, my optics flashed in amusement as he targeted me. The familiar sensation of teleport overtook me; it was always a thrill to surprise the enemy by disappearing and reappearing at will during combat. Appearing behind my opponent I fired point blank destroying his rear armor plating; he unleashed a final moan and collapsed, I would have smiled at my satisfaction if it were possible.

"The contest is over; you have proven yourself worthy of joining my army." He stated his booming voice echoing around the arena. "Proceed through the vortex and report to Razorclaw." He commanded as a golden purple vortex opened; I nodded in understanding and stepped through, my destiny was about to unfold.

_

* * *

This, is Cybertron; a veritable junkyard of twisted wrecks, decayed civilization and ultimately devoid of life a perfect battleground for our war. I would have smiled at that thought if I had a mouth; instead I settled for a quiet chuckle and reverted to my newly repaired vehicle form, it was time to report to Razorclaw… And then perhaps, to engage the Autobots in battle._

* * *

Razorclaw sat brooding in his command center; the new Autobot was a veteran, a warrior from the Great Wars of Cybertrons' past and his Decepticons were proving to be singularly not much of a match against this warrior. Reptilion was too distracted with his feud against Silverbolt and it was obvious that Arachnia chose not to engage Autobots unless absolutely necessary. And naturally Obsidian proved to be a worthless soldier as long as he continued to play act the part of a boob, which Tankor enforced upon his former lieutenant in the hopes of using that to his own advantage; Tankor's treacherous thoughts were more open then even the she-spider's growing desire to be held by that disgustingly noble Fuzor. If he wasn't currently pre-occupied with his own, personal, plan he would have been on the battlefield himself and the Autobots would be vanquished.  
Without warning someone was before him; Razorclaw regarded the mysterious newcomer, he was the usual combination of black and purple with a few bone white areas to break up the monotony.

"Air Commander Skywarp reporting as ordered." He stated in a low tone bowing formally to his new master; Razorclaw quirked his brow in amusement, this was a true soldier.

* * *

I stood before my new commander with very little fear; since he was chosen by Unicron I knew that he must be intelligent enough not to question new arrivals, I was considerably impressed by his size. He dwarfed the purple giant I had faced to prove myself; and thus I was forced to crane my neck to stare him in the optics, many felt unnerved by my cold impartial gaze, not this one.

"Welcome Skywarp." He returned in his own deep baritone; I was reminded only the slightest of our mutual master by this ones' voice, though his could never hope to match the imposing and powerful tones of Unicron. "Your arrival is most fortuitous; Tankor, Obsidian and Reptilion have just left on another supply run, I would suggest you rendezvous with them." He continued; I nodded in accordance and swiftly vanished teleporting back outside the immense obelisk, finally a chance to fight the Autobots.

Victor

Tankor rumbled over the rough terrain crushing debris beneath his treads with reckless abandon; his talents were being wasted here, he should be in charge of this army and sitting on his skid plate back at the obelisk while everyone else catered to his whims. Reptilion clung to his turret examining the area with his greater sensor net; Obsidian proved to be quite useful, he'd found more supplies then Reptilion had far more useful to his own plans then Black Arachnia's.

"I can't believe we need ta rifle though this junk for the supplies we need." Obsidian complained swooping low so he could speak with his comrades.

"Yes, it is odd that Unicron would fail to see to all our needs." Tankor agreed crushing an empty laser core under his treads heedless of the life form it had once possessed.

"Unicron is not known for his benevolence." Reptilion observed flicking his tongue in disgust; Tankor's optic flashed briefly as he absorbed this knowledge. "Hold it, my sensors have detected something." He added optics narrowing as he focused all his attention on his sensors; Tankor came to a halt and Obsidian hovered in place awaiting the report, Obsidian grew impatient as Reptilion took his time.

"Slag it all tin horn, what is it?" He demanded hovering down into Reptilion's view, Reptilion hissed in annoyance and knocked the Decepticon helicopter out of the way with his tail; his hiss lengthened as he finally confirmed his scans.

"Autobots." He informed in a whispered hiss.

"Whoo hoo, it's about time; I was gettin' tired of all this quiet." Obsidian exclaimed rising higher into the air and opening up so that he could reach the Autobots first.

"Hold it you fool; Razorclaw told us not to engage the enemy!" Tankor bellowed; Obsidian ignored his true commander and continued to race towards the enemy, Reptilion sighed as Tankor began to move forward tailing him as fast as he could with all the junk on the road.

* * *

The red Lamborghini easily avoided the rusting hulk of a freight container and sped up eager to locate some new parts to finish building the new body; the matching red and white fire chief styled Lamborghini maneuvered further up ahead and blazed a trail. Bringing up the rear of this little convoy was the mostly white, red and black emergency SUV; and above them all was the mostly purple wolf-eagle fusion.

"Keep your engine tuned there Sideswipe; we'll get your brother up and running again in no time." Ratchet, the SUV, called out with a chuckle.

"That's not soon enough for my tastes." Sideswipe countered with a snap; the recent addition was quite emotional when it came to his brother, and Primus alone knew why, but Ratchet knew there was no sense in arguing with him. Suddenly Inferno slammed on the brakes; transformed to robot mode and opened fire in quick succession. Obsidian effectively evaded the missiles and returned fire; his weapons targeting seemed off, that is until his apparent blundering tore Silverbolt's wings to shreds and knocked the smallest scrounger from the sky.

"Is it my imagination or was he actually aiming for once?" Ratchet asked as the other three transformed and took up defensive positions.

"Lucky shot." Silverbolt grimaced grabbing a spare blaster that Sideswipe offered, the Autobots opened fire overwhelming Obsidian for a time; until Tankor and Reptilion arrived.

"Slaggin' rotor-heads' gonna get us vaped." The lizard grumbled spitting a missile from his mouth in the process and striking the ground in front of Inferno; the Autobot scout returned fire, but his target had already leapt aside.

"Hardly." Tankor retorted assuming his impressive robot mode and dislodging the former Predacon; Reptilion transformed at the last second and recovered landing on his feet, he shot Tankor a glare before resuming his missile bombardment.

"I don't suppose you have a plan." Silverbolt remarked addressing Sideswipe; the veteran Autobot chuckled and charged forward.

"I'm the plan." He returned opening fire; Silverbolt shook his head with a sigh and targeted Obsidian, the larger aerial unit seemed to be far more quick witted then their last such encounter.

* * *

I watched with marginal interest as the two opposing sides fired upon one another in a bid for victory; the large unit seemed quite capable, but brawn did not always work out in such cases. The flyer was playing the part of a buffoon, spewing jargon and nonsense; and yet in rare instances his façade slipped away and the competent soldier emerged. I was largely impressed by the beast unit; despite his lack of physical strength he was still a more than capable lieutenant for Unicron's army, a pity his sister took priority in his optics. After observing the battle long enough to see Obsidian and Reptilion rendered harmless I decided to engage the Autobots; my arrival next to the hulking medic came as no small surprise, with a careful and practiced blast of missile fire he was down and I teleported away before the Fuzor could counterattack.  
I next lashed out at the silent warrior and effortlessly disarmed him, literally; the lack of a vocal exclamation of pain did little to dissuade my growing battle lust. I targeted the beast unit next and easily eliminated him from further threat assessment; his injuries hindered him whereas I was fresh to the fight, and so I faced the red unit; his blue optics narrowed as he seemed to recognize me.

"Though you're most likely from another reality; and your form is unrecognizable, I'd know your tactics anywhere Skywarp." He stated clenching one fist tight as he assumed a combative stance; my assault had been swift and precise, leaving no opportunity for Tankor to interfere with my fun.

"Observant young Autobot." I returned crassly; his joints and limbs stiffened and my optics narrowed; his attack proved futile, or so I thought. I'd made the mistake of underestimating this one; his stance caused me to teleport straight into his true attack, the leg round housing into my abdomen sent me crashing to the ground, but I evaded his follow up missile salvo with a simple tuck and roll.

"I would advise you to withdraw Autobot, you are hopelessly outmatched." Tankor boasted striding closer to the fallen Autobots and targeting the fuzor; I acted swiftly and appeared at his side knocking his weapon aside and forcing a misfire.

"We can't destroy them." I stated coldly; Tankor bristled and loomed above me.

"Why the Pit not?" He demanded fire flickering in his single optic sensor.

"Ask Razorclaw to explain the full deal with Unicron sometime." I returned in an even and low tone. "Until both armies ranks swell you don't want to be killing any Autobots, trust me the repercussions are most… Undesirable." I added in a whisper; then I retrieved Reptilion and slowly began to withdraw, Tankor picked up Obsidian unceremoniously and also prepared to flee, but before that… With a well aimed shot I blasted the lone Autobot into stasis and sent him crashing beside his comrades in stasis lock.

"At least it's not a total loss." Tankor observed with what struck me as a rare bit of humor; together we left, leaving the Autobots to be salvaged by those who remained at their base. But not without my personal message, this war would prove quite the challenge indeed now that I was here; although I was going to have to come up with better tactics then simple teleportation, apparently the Autobot knew my tricks all too well and could counter them effortlessly. Upon our next encounter; perhaps we would find ourselves more evenly matched, which was welcome to me for I could use a challenge.

To Be Continued **As I said a very short chapter, but fear not they won't all be this short. Gimmie a shout; how do you like Skywarp's story?**


End file.
